Madison Cawthorn has won the election for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, becoming the youngest member of the House in decades.
Twenty-five years old Cawthorn is at the minimum legal age to serve in the House. Cawthorn will replace former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows, who resigned in order to serve as President Trump’s chief of staff, reports National Review.
Cawthorn won the district primary against a challenger picked by Meadows and backed by Trump.
“Cry more, lib,” Cawthorn wrote on Twitter after the Associated Press called a victory for the freshman candidate.
Cry more, lib.
— Madison Cawthorn (@CawthornforNC) November 4, 2020
Cawthorn was nominated by Meadows for a spot at the US Naval Academy when he was 18-year-old; however, a car crash left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Controversy dogged Cawthorn’s campaign after it created a website attacking journalist Tom Fiedler for working for Senator Cory Booker.
Republican nominee for North Carolina's 11th congressional district in the 2020 elections Madison Cawthorn speaking during the third day of the convention at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC | AFP
“[Fiedler] quit his academia job in Boston to work for non-white males, like Cory Booker, who aims to ruin white males running for office,” the website read.
Cawthorn subsequently apologized for the incident, saying a staffer had written the post without his knowledge.
“The syntax of our language was unclear and unfairly implied I was criticizing Cory Booker,” Cawthorn said in a statement.
“I have condemned racism and identity politics throughout my campaign including during my convention speech when I highlighted Martin Luther King’s vision for equality,” he added.
