House Republicans tire of Cawthorn
Youthful brashness, antics also turning off some NC voters
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — In the era of Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party — when making falsehoods about an election isn’t disqualifying and when attending an event tied to white supremacists doesn’t lead to exile — it may still be possible for a hard-right member of Congress to go too far.
That is the object lesson of Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, the House’s youngest member, whose bid for a second term is in jeopardy.
“I voted for Madison, but I think I’ll pass now because of integrity issues,’’ John Harper, a retired furniture finisher in Franklin, North Carolina, said at a Republican event in Cawthorn’s district late last month. “I was fooled last time. I won’t be fooled again.”
Cawthorn, 26, called President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine “a thug” and his country “incredibly evil” as Russian tanks rolled in. The congressman has made headlines for bringing a knife to a school board meeting and a gun through airport security.
Cawthorn, who has used a wheelchair since being injured in an automobile accident when he was 18, was charged last month with driving with a revoked license.
Unlike some other far-right members of Congress, Cawthorn is also saddled with a yearslong series of hyperbolic claims about his life, raising questions about his honesty.
One of those claims finally set off his fellow House Republicans last week: a bizarre assertion he made on a conservative YouTube channel that people he “looked up to” in Washington — presumably GOP lawmakers — invited him to orgies and used cocaine.
On Tuesday, upset House Republicans at a closeddoor meeting questioned the remarks, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader, told colleagues that he would speak to Cawthorn. On Wednesday, he did so. Afterward, McCarthy told reporters that Cawthorn admitted the allegations were untrue. The minority leader said that he told the freshman congressman that he had lost trust in him and that he needed to turn his life around.
McCarthy, who aspires to be House speaker, acted only after declining to discipline other members for norm-shattering behavior and accusations. They include Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who posted an animated video showing him killing a Democratic congresswoman, and Matt Gaetz of Florida, who is under federal investigation for allegations of sex trafficking. Although McCarthy recently condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for an appearance at a conference organized by a white supremacist, he refused last year to back her removal from committees for endorsing violent behavior and spreading bigoted conspiracy theories.
Well before Cawthorn’s latest episode, his youthful brashness — which once appealed to the conservative older voters of far-west North Carolina — struck some as reckless and immature. Recent interviews with Republican voters and party leaders in his district — a largely working-class region — suggested his impetuousness is working against him.
“People of western North Carolina are tired of the
antics,’’ said Michele Woodhouse, the elected Republican chair of Cawthorn’s district and a former staunch supporter. Now she is running against him in the primary in May.
Cawthorn faces seven Republican challengers, a field that includes other former supporters, who accuse him of neglecting constituents while chasing Instagram followers and pursuing donors with expensive travel outside the state.
In the past, North Carolina’s Republican officials largely held their tongues about Cawthorn. His comments about Ukraine
ushered in more open criticism, including from Sen. Thom Tillis and the state House speaker, Tim Moore, who called him “reckless” in The News & Observer.
The congressman, who declined repeated requests for an interview, seemed to acknowledge some of the doubts about him at a debate last month in Henderson County.
“I’ll be the first to admit, 26 years old, I don’t have all the wisdom in the world,’’ he told the crowd. “Obviously when it comes to driving, I’ve got some work to do.’’
The audience, largely voters with gray hair, laughed, and some
applauded.
Luke Ball, a spokesperson for Cawthorn, predicted that Cawthorn would easily win the primary and suggested that voters at the district gatherings were unrepresentative.
“Some attending local GOP events are affiliated with congressman Cawthorn’s primary opponents and have welcomed the opportunity to slight Mr. Cawthorn’s service and candidacy,’’ Ball said.
Cawthorn has the advantage of name recognition in a field of challengers who, with a couple of exceptions, have raised little money. He also has the endorsement of
Trump, whom Cawthorn identified as “a man who mentors me.”
An internal poll of likely Republican voters in March for a Cawthorn rival showed the congressman leading the field with 52% and 17% undecided. “Cawthorn is right on the bubble of the 50 percent mark; incumbents who slip below that during the campaign are in danger,’’ wrote Glen Bolger, a top Republican pollster who conducted the poll.
Cawthorn was raised in Hendersonville, a small community where he was home-schooled. His meteoric rise began with his defeat of a primary candidate hand-picked to fill the seat held by former Rep. Mark Meadows, who was appointed Trump’s White House chief of staff.
During the 2020 campaign, a group of alumni of Patrick Henry College, which Cawthorn briefly attended, accused him of “sexually predatory behavior,’’ which he denied. He suggested during the campaign that his 2014 auto accident had “derailed” his plans to attend the Naval Academy. Reporting showed that his Annapolis application had already been rejected before the crash.
Days after being sworn in, Cawthorn addressed the rally behind the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, that preceded the siege of the U.S. Capitol. He amplified false conspiracies of fraud in the presidential election. Days earlier, he had tweeted, “It’s time to fight.’’
In the aftermath of the riot, he denounced the violence, writing in a tweet that “it wasn’t patriotism it was thuggery.”
This year, a group of North Carolina voters sought to have Cawthorn disqualified from reelection because of his participation in an “insurrection.”
A judge blocked the effort.