Load nodes into div using AJAX
Here is the javascript I ended up using to load a views block using AJAX and pass in a contextual filter from the href value of given link on page.

function getInfo(args) {

  $.ajax({
    url: Drupal.settings.basePath + 'views/ajax',
    type: 'post',
    data: {
      view_name: 'agent_lookup',
      view_display_id: 'agent_lookup_block', //your display id
      view_args: args,
    },
    dataType: 'json',
    success: function (response) {
        if (response[1] !== undefined) {
        var viewHtml = response[1].data;
        $('#ajax-target').html(viewHtml);
        //Drupal.attachBehaviors(); //check if you need this.
      }

    },
        error: function(data) {
         alert('An error occured!');
        }
  });
}




$('.ajax_button').once().click(function(e){
    e.preventDefault();
    var the_id = $(this).attr('href');
    noSlashes = the_id.replace(/\//g,'');
    getInfo(noSlashes);
});