Madison Cawthorn Loses Primary After Series of Scandals, Concedes
Screenshot via Twitter (Madison Cawthorn)
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) narrowly lost his primary Tuesday, according to a projection by Dave Wasserman of Cook Political Report.
With 92% reporting, Cawthorn trails by two percentage points.
State Sen. Chuck Edwards will be Republican Party’s nominee in the general election for North Carolina’s 11 congressional district, sending Cawthorn home after a single term.
MSNBC’s Kailani Koenig reported Cawthorn conceded to Edwards just after 10:20 p.m. ET.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s spokesman just told reporters at Hendersonville, NC event that the congressman just called Chuck Edwards to concede the race. #NC11
— Kailani Koenig (@kailanikm) May 18, 2022
The 26-year-old’s bid for another two years was plagued by negative headlines, which saw members of his own party turn on him.
Cawthorn drew the ire of Republicans beginning earlier this year after he said on a podcast he had witnessed cocaine use and been invited to “orgies” during his time in Congress.
The comments earned him the admonishment of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“I mean, he’s got a lot of members very upset,” McCarthy said. “You can’t just make statements out there.”
Cawthorn’s numerous other scandals included driving offenses, twice bringing a gun to an airport and calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug.”
He was also seen in a leaked video naked and “humping” another man. Cawthorn acknowledged the video’s authenticity.
Former President Donald Trump threw the embattled lawmaker a bone earlier this week on TRUTH Social.
“At 18 years of age, Madison Cawthorn, the now 26 year old Congressman from the Great State of North Carolina, went through a life changing event the likes of which, fortunately, few people will ever have to endure,” Trump wrote. “In just seconds, he lost the use of the lower half of his body, a traumatic experience to say the least. When Madison was first elected to Congress, he did a great job. Recently, he made some foolish mistakes, which I don’t believe he’ll make again … let’s give Madison a second chance!”
The winner of Tuesday’s race needed to cross 30% in order to avoid a runoff election, which Edwards is slated to do.
After Cawthorn conceded, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) celebrated on Twitter.
Republicans chose @ChuckEdwards4NC tonight because he is the embodiment of Mountain values who will fight for them every single day in Congress with honor and integrity! #ncpol #nc11
— Thom Tillis (@ThomTillis) May 18, 2022
UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect Cawthorn has conceded the race to Edwards.
