# Madison Cawthorn, controversial Republican Congressman from North Carolina, has lost the primary election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 18, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616 "2022-05-18T14:55:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/21 "2022-05-18T19:03:38Z")
I’m curious, didn’t the Republican powers-that-be vet him before he was allowed to run for Congress? Couldn’t they foresee trouble down the line? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/22 "2022-05-18T19:05:07Z")
> [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > , didn’t the Republican powers-that-be vet him before he was allowed to run for Congress? Couldn’t they foresee trouble down the line? As I recall, two years ago he ran _against_ the candidate the Republican party wanted. Perhaps that’s why he was targeted this time. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/23 "2022-05-18T19:06:49Z")
Ayup, that’d do it. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/24 "2022-05-18T19:07:45Z")
Oh, pop the cork on that champagne! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/25 "2022-05-18T19:08:45Z")
> [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > I’m curious, didn’t the Republican powers-that-be vet him before he was allowed to run for Congress? Generally speaking, U.S. political parties don’t (and, for that matter, usually _can’t_) “allow” or “disallow” candidates to run under their banner, though party leadership may make it clear who they are endorsing for a political office. As Procrustus notes, in the 2020 primary, Cawthorn ran against Lynda Bennett, who was the choice of both Trump and Mark Meadows (who had previously held the seat before retiring from Congress to become Trump’s chief of staff, and who was Cawthorn’s political mentor). But, the initial primary didn’t produce a winner, and Cawthorn beat Bennett in a run-off primary; at that point, he gained the support of local GOP leadership. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/26 "2022-05-18T19:20:50Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > I think the naked, dude on dude, horseplay tape may have also been a factor. > > Like… a factor 100 times bigger than the thing you mentioned. The majority of voters in the most rural, conservative parts of his district still voted for him. I don’t think they cared about that at all, if they even knew about it. > [@Procrustus](#): > > As I recall, two years ago he ran _against_ the candidate the Republican party wanted. Perhaps that’s why he was targeted this time. He was targeted for the “cocaine and orgies” lie and for applying to run in another district that was rumored to have been tailor-made for our current NC statehouse speaker to run for Congress in. In the end, the district maps were thrown out and redrawn, and he skedaddled back to his original district. But he’d drawn the ire of both the speaker and the head of the state senate by then. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/27 "2022-05-18T19:26:54Z")
Story on Raw Story today, emphasizing Mad Cawthorn’s record-breaking streak: Youngest evah to be elected to Congress, _and_ youngest evah to get his ass kicked out. But he still has 7 months left to go, and Republicans might be excused if they’re a bit nervous! > **[Madison Cawthorn just set a record](https://www.rawstory.com/madison-cawthorn-2657342385/)** > > The youngest man in Congress lost his bid to be renominated by the Republican Party following a string of scandals.North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost to state Sen. Chuck Edwards.Cawthorn's campaign was hit with a "series of scandals," the... > [@](#): > > Politico’s San Stein wondered how much damage Cawthorn will inflict on the way out. > > “I understand that GOP leadership wants him gone, but a lame duck Cawthorn with 7 months left to serve is gonna be a hold-your-breath ride for them too,” he [wrote](https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1526727532179075072). > > “At 26, I’m pretty sure that Madison Cawthorn is the youngest member of Congress to lose a primary,” [wrote](https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1526752265708744707) Dave Weigel of The Washington Post. > > In 2020, Madison Cawthorn became the youngest Republican elected to Congress in American history. In 2022, he became the youngest Republican to lose re-election to Congress in American history," [noted](https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1526753716036112384) reporter Ben Jacobs. Some of the user comments at the end of the story are a hoot. (Some NSFW too, of course.) [![](https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/903d8eb6bfad91984a174d5d50381ef768dac857ef4f2a8d6f387fb7fec5c4e8.gif) ](https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/903d8eb6bfad91984a174d5d50381ef768dac857ef4f2a8d6f387fb7fec5c4e8.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/28 "2022-05-18T19:34:02Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > This is one of those things where it’s hard to tell whether Republicans or Democrats are the ones sighing harder in relief. Who beat him? I was not paying attention and, while I am happy Cawthorn is out I worry that his replacement is not better. Cawthorn will probably get a job at Fox. I hope we have seen the last of him but I suspect not. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/29 "2022-05-18T19:35:30Z")
He got beaten by a 61-year old somewhat-establishment Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/30 "2022-05-18T19:46:41Z")
Why, that’s almost old enough to be three Cawthorns! (How old is that in Scaramuccis?) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/31 "2022-05-18T19:47:54Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > From the very first time I heard the guy’s name, I couldn’t get badly-written, masochistic romance novel villains out of my head. I assumed that he was side character from the Netflix _House of Cards_ show that escaped the streaming platform in _The Last Action Hero_ fashion and was assuming that reality was like the absurd plot developments that he experienced in the universe of the show. “You mean Kevin Spacey is a bitter asswipe in reality than Frank Underwood is in the show?” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/32 "2022-05-18T19:51:03Z")
He opted to call himself Madison, which I thought, after it was popularized by the movie Splash, was mostly a girl’s name. NTTAWWT. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/33 "2022-05-18T19:53:48Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > The majority of voters in the most rural, conservative parts of his district still voted for him. I don’t think they cared about that at all, if they even knew about it. Yeah… he did better among voters less likely to have heard about it, and worse among voter who were more likely to have heard about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/34 "2022-05-18T20:06:24Z")
> [@Daithi\_Lacha](#): > > I’m curious, didn’t the Republican powers-that-be vet him before he was allowed to run for Congress? Couldn’t they foresee trouble down the line?⁢ I think so. And this stuff is what they found. But they sat on it as long as they thought he would play ball. When it became clear he was a liability, they pulled this stuff out, timing it perfectly for the primaries. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/35 "2022-05-18T20:06:27Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Yeah… he did better among voters less likely to have heard about it, and worse among voter who were more likely to have heard about it. There were also plenty of people who simply doubled down - lots of quotes in the local paper of people who said they straight up didn’t care what he’d done. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/36 "2022-05-18T20:10:04Z")
This is what polling looked like in March… [![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/781216_138cecca765049489784d0973ae36efb~mv2.jpeg) ](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/781216_138cecca765049489784d0973ae36efb~mv2.jpeg) What happened between March and yesterday that drastically changed things? Did he skip a parade? Did he consider running in another district when no one knew what the map looked like? Or was it cocaine orgies, lingerie pics, and naked homoerotic dry humping? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/37 "2022-05-18T20:24:47Z")
And then there’s the cohort of rural Cawthorn supporters who thought to themselves, “Well, who _hasn’t_ done that ?” ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/38 "2022-05-18T20:26:39Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I’ll be honest, my only awareness of this lying slimeball was John Oliver. > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrgYozAujxY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrgYozAujxY) I envy you. He was the rep for my district. I’m going to drive by his campaign HQ this afternoon to see if they’ve started dismantling yet. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/39 "2022-05-18T20:33:54Z")
Chris Cooper (who is a political science professor at Western Carolina) breaks down the loss: > > For all of the scandals, the one that did Cawthorn in was leaving the district & coming back. When he left, Edwards, Burril, Woodhouse & O’Connell weren’t in this race. If he didn’t leave, it’s unlikely they would have gotten in. And he likely would weathered the storm. Also, one hard-to-assess thing in this state is there are a lot of unaffiliated voters, who can pick whatever primary ballot they want. Those folks are hard to poll. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616/40 "2022-05-18T20:35:57Z")
Chris Cooper’s dumbass theory is completely at odds with the available data. It can be ignored. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/madison-cawthorn-controversial-republican-congressman-from-north-carolina-has-lost-the-primary-election/964616.md?page=3)