Madison Cawthorn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Madison Cawthorn
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Official portrait, 2020
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 11th district |
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| In office January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Mark Meadows |
| Succeeded by | Chuck Edwards |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
David Madison Cawthorn
August 1, 1995 Asheville, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Cristina Bayardelle
(m. 2020; sep. 2021) |
| Signature |  |
David Madison Cawthorn (born August 1, 1995) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district from 2021 to 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Cawthorn worked for U.S. Representative Mark Meadows before being elected to Congress in 2020. He became the first member of Congress born in the 1990s. During his time in office, he faced several public discussions and challenges. He was not chosen by his party to run again in the 2022 Republican primary. Chuck Edwards won that election and took his place.
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Early Life and Education
Madison Cawthorn was born on August 1, 1995, in Asheville, North Carolina. His parents are Priscilla and Roger Cawthorn. He was home-schooled in Hendersonville, North Carolina, until 12th grade. He also played football with a local team for home-schooled students. As a teenager, he worked at a Chick-fil-A restaurant.
Car Accident and Recovery
In 2014, when he was 18, Cawthorn was seriously hurt in a car accident. He was a passenger in an SUV returning from a trip to Florida. The driver fell asleep, and the vehicle crashed. The accident left Cawthorn partially paralyzed. This meant he needed to use a wheelchair.
Before his injury, Cawthorn had been nominated to the United States Naval Academy. However, his application was not accepted. Later, during his 2020 campaign, he said the accident stopped his plans to attend the academy.
In 2016, Cawthorn attended Patrick Henry College to study political science. He later left college. He said his injuries made it hard for him to learn and study.
Early Career
From 2015 to 2016, Cawthorn worked as a staff assistant for U.S. Representative Mark Meadows. He worked in Meadows's local office.
Cawthorn also owned a real estate investment company called SPQR Holdings, LLC. The company started in 2019. It did not report any income.
Serving in the U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2020 Election
In March 2020, Madison Cawthorn ran in the Republican primary election for North Carolina's 11th congressional district. He came in second place. Because no one got enough votes, there was a second election called a runoff. Cawthorn won the runoff election by a large amount. This was seen as a surprise victory.
During his campaign, Cawthorn visited Adolf Hitler's former vacation home, the Eagle's Nest. He posted a picture online saying it was on his "bucket list." This caused some people to worry about his views. Cawthorn said the allegations that he supported certain extreme ideas were "ridiculous." He said he completely disagreed with any kind of white nationalism or Nazism. He later deleted the social media post.
Cawthorn spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention. In November 2020, he won the general election against Moe Davis. He took office on January 3, 2021.
Cawthorn was the youngest Republican in the 117th United States Congress. At 25, he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the House of Representatives. He was also the first member of Congress born in the 1990s.
2022 Election
In November 2021, Cawthorn first said he would run for re-election in a different district. This was because new district maps were being drawn. However, after new maps were approved in February, he decided to run again in his original 11th district.
On May 17, 2022, Cawthorn lost the Republican primary election. He was defeated by Chuck Edwards, a state senator. Edwards won by a small number of votes.
14th Amendment Challenge
In January 2022, a group of voters in North Carolina challenged Cawthorn's right to run for office again. They pointed to his actions at a rally in Washington before the Capitol riot in January 2021. This challenge was based on a part of the 14th Amendment. This part says that someone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. government cannot hold public office.
Cawthorn filed a lawsuit to stop this challenge. A judge first ruled in Cawthorn's favor, but a higher court later reversed that decision. The appeals court said that an old law, the Amnesty Act, did not protect him from being disqualified. The court did not decide if Cawthorn was eligible for office, only that the Amnesty Act did not apply to his situation.
Time in Office
During his time in Congress, Cawthorn became known for his strong statements. He said he wanted to be a messenger more than a lawmaker. He also closed almost all of his local offices.
2020
In December 2020, Cawthorn said he would try to challenge the results of the 2020 United States presidential election. He claimed there was fraud, but there was no evidence that fraud changed the election results. He encouraged people to "lightly threaten" their representatives.
2021
Cawthorn officially became a member of Congress on January 3, 2021.
Before the Capitol was stormed on January 6, Cawthorn spoke to the crowd. He said, "this crowd has some fight." He later voted against confirming the election results. After the events, Cawthorn said he was against the violence. He also said that the Republican party should have been more careful with their words. He later tried to blame the events on "agitators" from the Democratic party.
On January 20, the day Joe Biden became president, Cawthorn was one of 17 new Republican House members who signed a letter. The letter congratulated Biden and hoped for cooperation between parties. A group that watches government actions later asked for an investigation into Cawthorn's role in the January 6 events.
In late February 2021, Cawthorn and other Republican House members missed votes. They had others vote for them, saying it was because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they were actually attending a political conference. An ethics group filed a complaint about this.
In August 2021, Cawthorn spoke at a Republican Party event. He said that if election systems continued to be unfair, it could lead to "bloodshed." He then said he would hate to "pick up arms against a fellow American," and that election security was the only way to prevent this.
In October 2021, Cawthorn said that society was trying to make young men less strong. He told mothers to raise their sons to be "monsters." In November 2021, he said that politicians were trying to make everyone "genderless, sexless, and just absolutely Godless." He stated that Americans wanted their culture back.
After Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty in his trial, Cawthorn offered him an internship. He said, "You have a right to defend yourself, so be armed, be dangerous and be moral."
2022
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Cawthorn called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug." He also said the Ukrainian government was "incredibly corrupt." He later said his comments were based on Zelenskyy spreading misinformation.
In March 2022, Cawthorn talked about issues in Washington. ..... Other Republican lawmakers were upset by these comments. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met with Cawthorn. McCarthy later told reporters that Cawthorn admitted his claims were exaggerated or not true. McCarthy said Cawthorn had "lost my trust."
In April 2022, Senator Thom Tillis asked for an investigation into Cawthorn. This was about Cawthorn's purchase of a certain cryptocurrency without telling anyone, which might have gone against rules for members of Congress. By December 2022, it was reported that Cawthorn had not properly reported sales of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of different cryptocurrencies three times that year.
Also in April 2022, a group asked for an ethics investigation into Cawthorn's relationship with his aide, Stephen Smith, who is his second cousin. The request said Cawthorn might have given Smith free housing and travel, which could break House rules.
In May 2022, it was reported that Blake Harp, Cawthorn's chief of staff, received money from Cawthorn's campaign in addition to his salary. This might have gone against House ethics rules that limit how much senior staff can earn from outside work.
On November 16, 2022, it was reported that Cawthorn had closed his offices two months before his term ended. He later bought a house in Florida. The new representative, Chuck Edwards, invited people to contact his state senate office for help since Cawthorn's offices were closed.
Political Views
Cawthorn identifies as a constitutional conservative. ..... In 2021, he joined the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative House Republicans. He describes himself as "fiscally conservative," meaning he believes in careful spending of government money. He also says his views on immigration are "conservative" and he supports people owning guns legally. He is against new gun control laws.
Cawthorn supports legal same-sex marriage. However, he is against gender transition treatments for young people. He also supports removing Confederate statues because they represent states leaving the United States. But in June 2021, he voted against a bill that would remove statues of white supremacists and Confederates from the U.S. Capitol. In 2022, Cawthorn voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, a law to protect same-sex marriage across the country.
Cawthorn has said that climate change is "pretty minimal."
Cawthorn falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. However, he later changed his stance during a January 2021 TV interview.
Cawthorn supported a bill called the American Tech Workforce Act of 2021. This bill would change rules for certain work visas, making it harder for companies to rely on them. It would also get rid of a program that allows foreign graduates to work in the United States.
Committee Assignments
- House Committee on Education and Labor
- House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Caucus Memberships
- Republican Study Committee
- Freedom Caucus
Personal Life
Cawthorn says he is a Christian. He has an older brother named Zachary.
Cawthorn married Cristina Bayardelle in December 2020. She was a college student and an athlete. They had a larger ceremony in April 2021. In December 2021, Cawthorn announced that they were getting divorced.
Cawthorn said he trained for wheelchair racing for the 2020 Summer Paralympics. However, he never reached the level needed to compete and was not part of a team.
Incidents at Airports
In February 2021, airport security agents at the Asheville Regional Airport found an unloaded handgun and a loaded magazine in Cawthorn's carry-on bag. A spokesperson for Cawthorn said the items were supposed to be in his checked luggage.
In April 2022, Cawthorn was briefly stopped at an airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was because he tried to bring a loaded handgun onto a commercial flight in his carry-on bag. Police said he was cooperative. He was given a ticket for having a dangerous weapon on city property. In May 2023, Cawthorn pleaded guilty and had to pay a fine.
Driving Issues
In March 2022, Cawthorn was charged with driving when his license was not valid. He also had two speeding tickets that were still pending. A previous charge in 2017 for driving with a revoked license had been dismissed.
Images for kids
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Official portrait, 2020
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Signature of Madison Cawthorn
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Cawthorn speaking at a Turning Point USA event in 2020
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Cawthorn in 2020
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See also
In Spanish: Madison Cawthorn para niños
