[1] His father served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and was killed in battle in 1864 when Hal was two years of age.

[4] He served as president of the state's Young Men's Democratic Clubs in 1888 and supported gubernatorial candidate Daniel Gould Fowle in that year's election.

[2] In March 1895, Marion Butler, a leader of North Carolina's chapter of the People's Party/Populist Party and a U.S. Senator-elect, hired Ayer to edit his newspaper, The Caucasian.

[2][5] With Butler leaving for service in the Senate in Washington D. C., Ayer quickly became one of the most prominent Populist leaders in the state.

[12][13] At the Populist state convention in May 1898, Ayer, Butler, and Cyrus Thompson led a faction which pushed for abandoning Fusion with the Republican Party in favor of cooperating with the Democrats and supporting white supremacy.