NC-11: Trump's golden boy no shoo-in for red North Carolina seat
ASHEVILLE, N.C. On Tuesday, Republicans could add to their ranks a 25-year-old congressman bent on being as disruptive to the right as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is to the left or suffer an embarrassing defeat in a district they have no business losing.
Either way, the election here in North Carolinas 11th District is poised to rattle the Grand Old Party.
Madison Cawthorn, the paraplegic survivor of a near-fatal car crash, achieved instant star power after a June primary in which he toppled the candidate endorsed by both President Donald Trump and former GOP Rep. Mark Meadows, who resigned the seat to become the presidents chief of staff. Armed with his newfound fame, Cawthorn has centered his campaign on a scathing critique of his own party, calling it xenophobic, feckless and devoid of empathy all while aligning himself closely with a president accused of embodying those very traits.
I definitely am running against the Republican Party, he said in an interview this week, calling the GOP timid on everything from race to immigration to health care. Theyre a party that doesnt try to tackle real issues. They are a party that always says no to things.
Yet Cawthorn himself has become a vilified figure on the left, especially after his campaign unveiled a website last month with racist language. His opponent has taken to comparing him to the late senator from South Carolina who ran for president on a segregationist platform.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/01/madison-cawthorn-republican-aoc-433777