Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) lost the Republican House primary today to state Sen. Chuck Edwards (R) in North Carolina’s 11th District. The race was first called by Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report.
Decision DeskHQ also called the race for Edwards.
The New York Times reports that Cawthorn is losing by over 1,500 votes with more than 95% of precinct reporting.
Cawthorn, the youngest member of Congress, attracted significant controversy during his single term in office.
Though he originally had the backing of the party’s standard-bearer, former President Donald Trump, this proved insufficient to overcome the onslaught of scandals that plagued his time in Congress. Cawthorn purportedly lied about the accident that paralyzed him, about training for the Paralympics, and about getting accepted to the United States Naval Academy.
In recent months, Cawthorn came under fire from fellow Republicans for claiming that GOP members of Congress invited him to orgies and did cocaine in front of him.
Cawthorn’s many critics on social media were elated by his defeat.
Some believe that Republicans tanked his campaign as revenge for him talking about their cocaine use and sexual proclivities. In the weeks after his claims, leaked images of Cawthorn wearing women’s lingerie and footage of him nude and thrusting his pelvis into another man’s face in a hotel bed went around the internet.
Many felt it factored into his loss tonight.
“Remember that your own party did this to you when you lose tonight @CawthornforNC,” @antifaoperative suggested. “You should really seek revenge and dish all the juicy dirt.”
Celebratory posts poured in even before the results were official.
“When Madison Cawthorn loses, America wins,” tweeted @JDCocchiarella.
Edwards will face Democratic nominee Jasmine Beach-Ferrara in the general election.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/madison-cawthorn-primary-loss-celebration/