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| © Courtesy Cawthorn for NC Madison Cawthorn |
By Paul Moon, USA TODAY
Political newcomer Madison Cawthorn breezed past President Donald Trump’s pick for Mark Meadows' seat in Congress in a two-person GOP runoff election on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Henderson County Republican roundly defeated Haywood County’s Lynda Bennett in the primary runoff for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District.
“I do not believe this election has been a referendum on the president’s influence,” Cawthorn wrote in a statement on election night. “The people of western North Carolina are wise and discerning. You observed both candidates and simply made the choice you believed is best for our district.”
Cawthorn won roughly two-thirds of the vote over Bennett, who received the backing of the president in a June tweet.
“Please let this serve as my Complete and Total Endorsement of a great fighter and ally in North Carolina,” Trump's June 4 message said, using Bennett's Twitter handle. “She is strong on Crime, Borders, Military, our Great Vets & 2A. She will be a great help to me in DC.”
The real estate investor and motivational speaker will now face off against Democratic candidate and retired U.S Air Force colonel Moe Davis in a district spanning 18 Western North Carolina counties.
Political newcomer Madison Cawthorn breezed past President Donald Trump’s pick for Mark Meadows' seat in Congress in a two-person GOP runoff election on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Henderson County Republican roundly defeated Haywood County’s Lynda Bennett in the primary runoff for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District.
“I do not believe this election has been a referendum on the president’s influence,” Cawthorn wrote in a statement on election night. “The people of western North Carolina are wise and discerning. You observed both candidates and simply made the choice you believed is best for our district.”
Cawthorn won roughly two-thirds of the vote over Bennett, who received the backing of the president in a June tweet.
“Please let this serve as my Complete and Total Endorsement of a great fighter and ally in North Carolina,” Trump's June 4 message said, using Bennett's Twitter handle. “She is strong on Crime, Borders, Military, our Great Vets & 2A. She will be a great help to me in DC.”
The real estate investor and motivational speaker will now face off against Democratic candidate and retired U.S Air Force colonel Moe Davis in a district spanning 18 Western North Carolina counties.
An 'inspiring' candidate story
Cawthorn's victory is the latest triumph in a personal biography that captured the attention of voters.
Meg Climo of the Walnut community in Madison County said she found Cawthorn's message and story "inspiring."
“I believe he will do what he’s wanting to do,” she said after casting her ballot on Election Day in Marshall.
Cawthorn won all but one of the counties that were fully reported as of 10 p.m. Bennett won in Rutherford County, taking nearly 65% of the vote. Cawthorn won the other counties by comfortable margins, except in Clay and Swain, where he won by three and five votes, respectively. Vote totals are not official until the canvass next week.
In Transylvania County, Cawthorn received 1,611 votes to Bennett’s 809; 12.8% of the county’s eligible voters, or 2,424 of 18,862 people, cast ballots in the runoff.
In Polk County, he took 786 votes to Bennett’s 457. About 10.9% of the county’s eligible voters, or 1,248 of 11,455 people, cast ballots.
Cawthorn, who would reach the constitutionally-mandated age of 25 to serve in the House in August, was paralyzed from the abdomen down after a 2014 car accident.
Homeschooled in Hendersonville, he planned to head to the U.S. Naval Academy before the accident left him partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair. To Cawthorn, the experience allows him to connect naturally with voters, he told the Asheville Citizen Times, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, back in January.
“I’ve been through adversity,” he said. “I have empathy. I know what suffering people go though, I care about others and will work in Washington to get government out of the way so they can take care of themselves.”
Meg Climo of the Walnut community in Madison County said she found Cawthorn's message and story "inspiring."
“I believe he will do what he’s wanting to do,” she said after casting her ballot on Election Day in Marshall.
Cawthorn won all but one of the counties that were fully reported as of 10 p.m. Bennett won in Rutherford County, taking nearly 65% of the vote. Cawthorn won the other counties by comfortable margins, except in Clay and Swain, where he won by three and five votes, respectively. Vote totals are not official until the canvass next week.
In Transylvania County, Cawthorn received 1,611 votes to Bennett’s 809; 12.8% of the county’s eligible voters, or 2,424 of 18,862 people, cast ballots in the runoff.
In Polk County, he took 786 votes to Bennett’s 457. About 10.9% of the county’s eligible voters, or 1,248 of 11,455 people, cast ballots.
Cawthorn, who would reach the constitutionally-mandated age of 25 to serve in the House in August, was paralyzed from the abdomen down after a 2014 car accident.
Homeschooled in Hendersonville, he planned to head to the U.S. Naval Academy before the accident left him partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair. To Cawthorn, the experience allows him to connect naturally with voters, he told the Asheville Citizen Times, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, back in January.
“I’ve been through adversity,” he said. “I have empathy. I know what suffering people go though, I care about others and will work in Washington to get government out of the way so they can take care of themselves.”
Defeating Trump, Meadows' pick
Although Haywood County’s Lynda Bennett secured the most votes in the March Republican primary, she was more than 7 percentage points shy of the 30 percent threshold to clear a primary victory.
Meadows announced late during December’s candidate filing period he wouldn’t seek reelection and endorsed Bennett, a real estate company owner and friend of Meadows’ wife.
Bennett had received the president’s backing on Twitter and the earlier endorsement of Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among other GOP heavyweights.
Cawthorn called for the runoff after he finished second to Bennett in a 12-candidate primary in early March. The scheduled May runoff was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cawthorn, who also described himself as a strong Trump supporter, attempted to reframe Bennett’s endorsements, saying he wouldn’t be beholden to anyone in Washington if he reached Congress. But his campaign also got help from a super PAC that backs candidates allied with Sen. Rand Paul.
With voters worried about the pandemic’s spread, mail-in absentee ballots were popular in the 17 mountain counties within the 11th District leading up to the runoff.
Early in-person voting sites were open and election day precincts in several of the district’s 17 counties were consolidated mostly to address social distancing challenges. Poll workers wore face masks and provided voters single-use pens and cotton swabs to mark ballots.
Read more at USA TODAY
Meadows announced late during December’s candidate filing period he wouldn’t seek reelection and endorsed Bennett, a real estate company owner and friend of Meadows’ wife.
Bennett had received the president’s backing on Twitter and the earlier endorsement of Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, among other GOP heavyweights.
Cawthorn called for the runoff after he finished second to Bennett in a 12-candidate primary in early March. The scheduled May runoff was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cawthorn, who also described himself as a strong Trump supporter, attempted to reframe Bennett’s endorsements, saying he wouldn’t be beholden to anyone in Washington if he reached Congress. But his campaign also got help from a super PAC that backs candidates allied with Sen. Rand Paul.
With voters worried about the pandemic’s spread, mail-in absentee ballots were popular in the 17 mountain counties within the 11th District leading up to the runoff.
Early in-person voting sites were open and election day precincts in several of the district’s 17 counties were consolidated mostly to address social distancing challenges. Poll workers wore face masks and provided voters single-use pens and cotton swabs to mark ballots.
Read more at USA TODAY
