Madison Cawthorn Says Effort to Keep Him Off November’s Ballot Is ‘Very Close’ to Succeeding
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) said on Monday that an effort to keep him off of the ballot this fall is “very close” to succeeding.
The 26-year-old freshman congressman is facing a challenge to his eligibility to run.
Last month, a group of North Carolina voters filed a candidacy challenge, which seeks to prevent him from appearing on the ballot over his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Associated Press reported that the group is citing a provision in the 14th Amendment to bar Cawthorn from contending for a second term in the House.
The AP noted,
Cawthorn’s office quickly condemned the candidacy challenge, filed on behalf of 11 voters before the State Board of Elections, which oversees the scrutiny of candidates’ qualifications. The voters contend that Cawthorn, a Republican who formally filed as a candidate for the 13th District seat last month, can’t run because he fails to comply with an amendment in the U.S. Constitution ratified shortly after the Civil War.
The 14th Amendment says no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
A group called Free Speech for People, which is behind the effort to end Cawthorn’s political career, cited comments he made about challenging the 2020 election as its rationale for asking election officials in North Carolina to keep him off the ballot.
On Tucker Carlson Tonight Monday, Cawthorn told host Tucker Carlson his future now lies in the hands of his state’s election board.
Carlson asked, “I can’t think of a clearer assault on democracy itself than preventing voters from voting for the candidate of their choice. How close are they to preventing you from running for office?”
Cawthorn responded,
Tucker, they are actually very close. Now, what’s going on in North Carolina is that the state board of election, a panel of five people, is asserting that they have the ability to bar 740,000 plus Americans in my district from being able to elect me to send me to Washington to be their weapon to fight against the deep state.
Cawthorn then theorized that Democrats referred to Jan. 6 as an insurrection only so that they could use a post-Civil War legal loophole to keep he and others out of Congress.
“And make no mistake, Tucker, this is not just about a 26-year-old from western North Carolina in a wheelchair,” Cawthorn concluded. “This is about the future of our very nation. If they’re able to set this precedent in North Carolina, they will be able to keep anybody with valid or legitimate concerns to be not be able to hold office, thus ending the America-first movement.”
Watch above, via Fox News.
