RE-ELECTION FAIL: Madison Cawthorn mocked after losing North Carolina GOP House primary

RE-ELECTION FAIL: Madison Cawthorn mocked after losing North Carolina GOP House primary

Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) experienced an orgy of defeat yesterday in the North Carolina Republican primary as he aimed to retain his seat in the House of Representatives.

After becoming the youngest member of Congress in his 2020 election, Cawthorn is now the youngest member of Congress to fail to achieve re-election with his defeat in the primary for the GOP candidacy in North Carolina’s 11th District.

His defeat comes primarily at the hands of three-term State Senator Chuck Edwards who beat Cawthorn with 33.4% of the vote to Cawthorn’s 31.0%, with the rest of the ballots spread among the six other contenders in the race.

Many observers would agree that Cawthorn’s erratic behavior over the course of his re-election campaign — including driving with a suspended license, being caught trying to board an airplane with a loaded gun, accusing his fellow Republicans of participating in cocaine-fueled “sexual get-togethers,” and allegations of his involvement in a cryptocurrency pump and dump fraud scheme — did not help his efforts to retain his seat. Neither did the release of videos showing Cawthorn in drag or in a naked embrace with a male pal endear him to the conservative evangelical Christians in his constituency.

Cawthorn called Edwards to concede the race at 10:20 PM local time but otherwise did not comment on his loss.

Not to worry, the denizens of social media had plenty of commentary of their own to share about Cawthorn’s defeat.

While progressives may rejoice in the defeat of one of the Republican Party’s most annoying right-wing extremists, Chuck Edwards, the man who beat Cawthorn, is no less of a right-winger than his vanquished opponent.

“We are more determined than ever to take control of our own destiny and send someone to Washington, D.C., that is one of us and reject the real establishment in D.C. and career politicians that have lost track of people like us,” Edwards said after his victory.

Let’s hope that the people of North Carolina’s newly redistricted 11th Congressional District have the wisdom to elect Edwards’ projected Democratic opponent Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, a current Buncombe County commissioner, to represent them in Congress.

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Original reporting by Joel Burgess at The Asheville Citizen Times.

RELATED STORY: REBUKE: Top House GOP leaders confront Cawthorn over his drug-fueled orgy allegations

Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.