Cawthorn’s move has widespread implications

Going rogue: Cawthorn’s move has widespread implications

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

Western North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn has become known for saying some surprising things to further his political agenda, but Cawthorn’s most recent statement is by far his most surprising.

“I believe we have a unique opportunity to increase conservative leadership from North Carolina,” Cawthorn said in a video posted around 7 p.m. on Nov. 11. “I have every confidence in the world that regardless of where I run the 14th Congressional District will send a patriotic fighter to D.C. Knowing the political realities of the 13th District, I am afraid that another establishment go-along-to-getalong’ Republican would prevail there. I will not let that happen. I will be running for Congress in the 13th Congressional District.”

WNC’s 11th Congressional District has been among the most wildly unpredictable in the country since near the end of Mark Meadows’ tenure in 2019, but now voters west of Asheville are slowly coming to the realization that Cawthorn’s improbable 2020 victory wasn’t the end of the instability — it was only the beginning.

In December 2019, four-term incumbent representative and chair of the influential House Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows (R-Asheville), shocked the political establishment when he announced he wouldn’t seek another term in Congress.

Meadows did so with only about a day remaining in the filing period, catching most politicos flat-footed. That was on purpose, though — Meadows pushed a friend of his wife’s, Maggie Valley Realtor Lynda Bennett, to the front of the line by giving her advance warning of his intentions.

That little maneuver boxed out some viable candidates, and left others literally speeding to Raleigh to file their paperwork before the deadline. But not Bennett — once Meadows made his announcement Bennett was ready to go, with a website, a press release and an endorsement from the Asheville Tea PAC all issued before most people had even gotten out of bed that morning.

Bennett’s running start didn’t scare off 11 other candidates on the Republican side, including retiring Sen. Jim Davis of Franklin, Meadows’ acolyte Wayne King and a charismatic 24-year-old from Henderson County who’d failed out of college and only ever worked at Chick-fil-A, albeit briefly.

As the shortened campaign season began — Meadows’ announcement came on Dec. 19, 2019, with the Primary Election slated for March 3, 2020 — Cawthorn began garnering more and more attention amongst local Republicans due to an attractive pro-Trump message delivered in an attractive package.

Cawthorn’s first minor victory came that night, when the then-unknown placed second in the Primary Election, just 2.3 points behind Bennett.

The fact that he’d bested Davis, a respected public servant with decades of experience and substantial name recognition, was met with amazement by most.

It wasn’t quite enough, however; Bennett had failed to reach the 30% threshold to avoid a runoff, so one was scheduled between her and Cawthorn for June 23.

The extra time only gave Cawthorn more opportunities to spread his message, just as Bennett’s campaign continued a series of missteps that began with her shady entry into the race and continued with a sham endorsement from a two-day-old PAC, a series of poor public performances and a refusal to debate her inexperienced opponent.

Even a million dollars in PAC money and the full support of the President of the United States couldn’t salvage Bennett’s poorly run campaign and as the runoff drew near, Cawthorn’s momentum surged, with some Republicans even saying they wouldn’t support the Trump-endorsed Bennett if she beat Cawthorn.

She didn’t. In fact, she didn’t even come close. Bennett tallied fewer votes in the runoff than she did in the Primary Election, and Cawthorn handed her a decisive loss by a two-to-one margin.

The loss was a major embarrassment for Trump, and for Meadows, who in March became Trump’s chief of staff after abandoning his seat and leaving it completely vacant throughout the rest of 2020.

Democrats had watched the contest closely since Meadows, who was likely undefeatable in his district, announced his departure.

Retired Air Force colonel, attorney and moderate Democrat Moe Davis won his Primary Election with more than 47 percent of the vote in a field of five, thus avoiding a runoff.

Over the next four months, Davis and Cawthorn battled it out in debates, candidate forums and mailboxes, on television, the radio and the internet.

And there was plenty to talk about — weeks after his runoff victory, The Smoky Mountain News was first to report on sexual harassment allegations against Cawthorn by a former classmate.

Then, social media posts surfaced suggesting that Cawthorn held racist or white supremacist views.

Then, it was stolen valor accusations over his rejected application to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Then, it was more sexual harassment allegations and a letter of repudiation from his peers at the very Christian, very conservative Patrick Henry College.

None of it, however, stuck.

Cawthorn’s apologies, denials and explanations satisfied voters in his deeply conservative district, as much as Davis tried to make light of them.

Late in the campaign, a resurfaced tweet from Davis about wanting to stomp the “scrawny pasty necks” of conservatives ignited a firestorm and dealt a final blow to the campaign of a man many considered eminently qualified but thoroughly unlikeable.

Democrats had high hopes for Davis despite the district’s solid-red status, but were ultimately disappointed by his performance, a 12-point loss to Cawthorn on Nov. 3.

Cawthorn celebrated the victory with a tweet of his own two hours after the polls closed, directed at Davis.

It said, simply, “Cry more, lib.”

Although his performance on Election Day may have been predictable, what happened to Cawthorn next wasn’t.

As he was being sworn in on Jan. 3, 2021, Trump was still disputing the results of an election that saw his party lose the House, the Senate and the Oval Office. Three days later, Cawthorn spoke at Trump’s “stop the steal” rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where he opined that the crowd had “some fight in it.”

Some in that Jan. 6 crowd went on to participate in the most serious incursion into the U.S. Capitol since the British burned it down in 1814.

Telling The Smoky Mountain News that in retrospect he may have added a few lines to his Ellipse statement and that he was in no way advocating the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, Cawthorn has since held firm to the “big lie” ideology pushed by the twice-impeached Trump.

Convictions against some of the insurrectionists have since been handed down, even as a bipartisan select committee of the House continues to investigate the incident and issue subpoenas.

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was subpoenaed but failed to appear as ordered, was indicted on contempt charges on Nov. 12, surrendered on Nov. 15 and will be free at

Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s surprising announcement came on Nov. 11.

Jeffrey Delannoy photo

CAWTHORN, CONTINUED FROM 11 least through his arraignment on Nov. 18.

Meadows, along with his former chief of staff Ben Williamson, have also been subpoenaed. Meadows ignored his, and will likely see contempt charges referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. He could face proceedings similar to Bannon’s.

Cawthorn hasn’t been subpoenaed and said he wouldn’t outright commit to answering the call if he was, even after explosive, anonymous allegations in Rolling Stone suggested Cawthorn was part of the planning process — something Cawthorn vehemently denies.

Insurrection-related business aside, Cawthorn has continued to court controversy throughout the year. He was caught with a firearm at Asheville Regional Airport back in February, and then was warned by law enforcement — but not charged — after bringing knives to a series of schools and school board meetings early this fall.

He’s warned of bloodshed over baseless election conspiracy theories, called insurrectionists “political prisoners” and expressed skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness while disregarding and opposing mask mandates. He’s also grown ever closer to Trump, visiting Mar-a-Lago and appearing with him at a New Jersey fundraiser.

Legislatively, perhaps his most noteworthy actions have come in voting against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, both of which passed.

In May, it was reported that he’d missed the most votes of any first-term member of Congress this session.

As a freshman member of the minority party in a government under unified Democrat control, Cawthorn’s effectiveness on the floor of the House was never expected to be the hallmark of his first year in office. Instead, it’s his role as a culture warrior for a Republican Party now locked in a full-on embrace of right-wing populism that has given him national notoriety.

That hasn’t escaped notice back in his district, where 2022 election opponents began appearing – both Democrats and Republicans – before Cawthorn had even served three months in office and before the decennial census prompted a redraw of congressional districts.

On Nov. 4, the North Carolina General Assembly approved new maps for its state House, Senate and congressional districts. Due to population growth, North Carolina gained an additional seat in Congress.

All 13 existing congressional districts were affected by the remap as 14 new ones were crafted.

Cawthorn’s district came back with a new name (NC-14) but as still just as red as ever, and most observers assumed he’d just continue to coast to victory after victory until it was time to make the next logical move in his nascent political career.

Rumors about Cawthorn’s true intentions began circulating on the afternoon of Nov. 10, after a story in the Carolina Journal, written by former NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse, revealed that polling had been conducted on behalf of Cawthorn in North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District.

According to the story, Spry Strategies founder Ryan Burrell confirmed the existence of the poll.

That same evening, Cawthorn told district county chairs on a call that he was exploring the possibility of running in the new 13th, as opposed to his current district, but that nothing was finalized.

“He said he was contemplating the decision of running in the new 13th District or his current district, and that he had constituents in both, and then he opened it up for conversation,” said Michele V. Woodhouse, the Republican chair of Cawthorn’s district who arranged the call. “I think it speaks to his transparency that he would approach the people he works for every day before talking to anyone else.”

Michele V. Woodhouse is related to Dallas Woodhouse through her husband.

Despite premature reports that Cawthorn had already made up his mind, his announcement on Nov. 11 made it official.

“This was not an easy decision. Whichever path I choose, I am losing friends, neighbors and constituents. But this decision was not flippant or based on personal preferences in the slightest,” said Cawthorn. “It is a tactical move to ensure North Carolina’s conservative fighting spirit is strengthened.”

The 13th District is a brand-new creation — an open seat — that came about as a result of the state’s recent redistricting process. Cawthorn’s current district changed only slightly from its current incarnation.

Nonpartisan mapping website northcarolina.redistrictingandyou.org shows that in 2020, Donald Trump took 56.1% of votes in the old NC-11, and 53.8% in the new NC-14.

NC-14 third quarter candidate fundraising totals*

DEMOCRATS

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara...................$933,087 Eric Gash........................................$230,161 Jay Carey...........................................$34,692 Katie Dean........................................$43,312 Bo Hess...............................................$8,873 Brooker Smith.....................less than $5,000

REPUBLICANS

Rod Honeycutt.....................less than $5,000 Bruce O’Connell................................$12,397 Wendy Nevarez..........................................N/A

*2022 cycle to date, as of Sept. 30, 2021 per fec.gov. Does not include loans.

Candidates who haven’t raised more than $5,000 by the deadline do not need to report fundraising data to FEC. Source: fec.gov

SEE CAWTHORN, PAGE 14