Last week’s announcement that U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn would run in a district away from his home continues to have ripple effects for other candidates.
On Monday morning, Josh Remillard, a 39-year-old Democrat, announced that he would follow Cawthorn out of the newly drawn 14th Congressional District and into the 13th.
“The new mission for me is to give this district a voice,” Remillard told The Charlotte Observer. “But Madison Cawthorn is uniquely dangerous and he needs to be removed and that’s exactly what I intend on doing.”
Cawthorn, 26, is the youngest member of the 117th Congress and an outspoken voice of Republicans who closely align themselves with former President Donald Trump.
He spoke at the Jan. 6 rally and has since talked about the need to take up arms and that future “rigged” elections would lead to “bloodshed.”
Fallout from Cawthorn’s move
Cawthorn currently represents the 11th Congressional District that was redrawn as the newly created 14th district. Earlier this month, the N.C. General Assembly finished the required redrawing of North Carolina’s congressional seats with the extra district based on census numbers.
It was widely believed that lawmakers drew the 13th Congressional District specifically for N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore and that Cawthorn took shots at the state leader when he announced his change.
“I have every confidence in the world that regardless of where I run, the 14th Congressional District will send a patriotic fighter to D.C.,” Cawthorn said in a video posted to Twitter. “But knowing the political realities of the 13th district, I’m afraid that another establishment, go-along-to-get-along Republican will prevail there.”
Shortly after Cawthorn made his announcement, Moore put out a message of his own saying he won’t run for Congress.
Critics of Cawthorn say his decision to run in the 13th district was less about stopping establishment Republicans and more about running to a district that would ensure an easier win.
North Carolina lawmakers left voters with 10 Republican-leaning districts, three Democratic-leaning districts and one competitive district that leans slightly to the left.
While a majority of the voters in the 14th district tends to choose Republicans, the 13th is even more of a GOP stronghold, making it hard for a Democrat to win.
Cawthorn joins Republican candidates Karen Bentley, Tyler Lee and Richard Speer in the 13th district, The News & Observer reported.
While Cawthorn had faced several Republican and Democratic challengers in the 14th district, so far Remillard is the only candidate to announce he will chase Cawthorn to the 13th.
Jan. 6 a key moment
Remillard, a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq, said he chose to run on Jan. 6, specifically to take on Cawthorn.
Remillard said he screamed at his television while watching a mob of violent protesters charging into the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
“For me this is really personal,” Remillard said. “It’s personal because for every single person that served this country, every single one of us who raised their right hand to defend this constitution and fight for this country apart from our friends and our families, to see Madison Cawthorn on Jan. 6, everything he did was essentially a slap in our face for sacrifice.”
Remillard said his experiences — his time in foster care, his work as a bouncer and his time serving overseas — all made him a fighter and made him believe he could take on Cawthorn.
Remillard grew up in Wilmington and served in the Army before earning a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Washington.
There, Remillard tried to help his best friend who was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing his friends’ deaths in an ambush during the war. Remillard’s friend later died by suicide.
Remillard later returned to North Carolina. He promises to spend as much time in the new district as possible to learn the needs of the constituents there and carry those needs to Congress.
“What sets me apart, I think, is my service to this country, the fact that I love this country, I love my community and I would barrel through walls for my community,” Remillard said. “I know what it means to serve selflessly for my community and have integrity doing so.”
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