Reporter Kicked Out of Cawthorn Election Party Details How It Was Deserted By ‘Allies and Supporters’

Allison Joyce/Getty Images

A reporter was kicked out of Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s (R-NC) primary election party on Tuesday.

The Independent’s John Bowden wrote on Thursday about being kicked out of the party, which was held on “the premises of a small auto detailer and tire shop.”

He wrote that “at the scene of Eric Sciffringer’s Auto Detail-turned Madison Cawthorn Headquarters, the desolate parking lot was only occupied by a handful of journalists, one or two Cawthorn campaign staffers, and a contingent of police officers who were friendly at first. But they quickly changed their tune after I snapped a few pictures of the Cawthorn campaign’s sign and the quickly-emptying lot.”

Bowden recalled that a police officer told him “streets are for vehicles” when he crossed what he said was “the completely empty road” to take a broader picture of the depressing scene.

The press was not allowed inside Cawthorn’s party, according to Bowden.

“The reporters present witnessed a stunning and sudden desertion of Cawthorn’s closest supporters and allies as it became clear that he’d lost,” wrote Bowden.

Cawthorn lost to state Sen. Chuck Edwards in the GOP primary in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. Edwards received 33.4 percent of the vote, while Cawthorn got 31.9 percent. Cawthorn has been mired in controversy from calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a thug” to claiming he has been invited to orgies featuring members of Congress.

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