Sen. Thom Tillis Endorses Republican Challenger to Madison Cawthorn

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) endorsed state Sen. Chuck Edwards in his primary challenge against Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) following Cawthorn’s recent comments on D.C. orgy invites and witnessing cocaine use since entering Congress in 2021.

Tillis announced his endorsement in a statement on Thursday, one week after Cawthorn claimed on the Warrior Poet Society podcast that he had been invited to orgies and seen D.C. leaders take cocaine.

Cawthorn’s comments have earned pushback from fellow Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). McCarthy met with Cawthorn this week and said there was “no evidence” to his claims and that the young congressman has lost his trust and even admitted to exaggerating the details of his stories.

“The 11th Congressional District deserves a congressman who is fully dedicated to serving their constituents,” Tillis said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Madison Cawthorn has fallen well short of the most basic standards western North Carolina expects from their representatives, and voters now have several well-qualified candidates to choose from who would be a significant improvement. I believe Chuck Edwards is the best choice.”

The Republican primary is set to take place on May 17.

In his endorsement, Tillis also said Edwards would never “attack Ukraine’s fight for freedom or vote against sanctioning Putin’s Russia and find himself being used as propaganda on Russian state television.”

Cawthorn previously found himself embroiled in controversy when a clip of him referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “thug” and the Ukrainian government as “evil” amidst the country battling a Russian military invasion. Being used as “propaganda” refers to Cawthorn’s comments eventually appearing on Russian state TV.

If your comments are being replayed over and over by Russian state propaganda outlets…#ncpol https://t.co/esmVCroTOL

— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) March 17, 2022