RALEIGH, N.C. — More challenges against U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn's eligibility to run for reelection this year have now been filed, even as the state elections board is fighting Cawthorn's attempts to get the complaints thrown out without a hearing.
Last week Cawthorn sued the state, trying to stop any such challenges before they could start. If the state is able to go through with its investigation, Cawthorn could be forced to testify under oath about the accusations that he engaged in an insurrection against the government when he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
On Tuesday the N.C. State Board of Elections filed a brief opposing Cawthorn's lawsuit. The board did not say whether its leaders believe Cawthorn should be banned from running again, just that they should be allowed to look into it.
Such investigations happen semi-frequently and "serve the critical purpose of ensuring that only qualified candidates appear on the ballot and are voted on by the electorate, while promoting public confidence in the electoral system," the board wrote.
Also on Tuesday, the elections board provided documents to The News & Observer showing Cawthorn is now facing not one challenge to his candidacy, but three.
All three complaints accuse the Republican from Hendersonville of helping plan the attack on Congress more than a year ago, on Jan. 6, 2021, as the election results from the 2020 election were being certified. Hundreds of supporters loyal to then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Building, egged on by Trump and some of his allies in Congress including Cawthorn.
"January 6th is fast approaching, the future of this Republic hinges on the actions of a solitary few," Cawthorn wrote on Twitter two days before the attack. "Get ready, the fate of a nation rests on our shoulders, yours and mine. Let's show Washington that our backbones are made of steel and titanium. It's time to fight."
While the national Republican Party recently called the Jan. 6 attack "legitimate political discourse," not all of the party's own leaders agree.
On Tuesday U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the events of that day "a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election."
Cawthorn has denied doing anything wrong and says he should be allowed to seek reelection.
"Rep. Cawthorn vigorously denies that he engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" against the United States," his lawsuit says.
Earlier this year a group of voters led by two former N.C. Supreme Court justices filed a challenge with the State Board of Elections, arguing that the board should ban Cawthorn from attempting to run for reelection in 2022 or any other election.
They said they believe there's proof his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 attack amounted to him supporting an insurrection against the government. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in the wake of the Civil War, bans politicians and others who engage in anti-government insurrection from federal elected office, like Congress or the presidency.
The new complaints, both filed by voters living in Shelby, largely echo the language of the initial challenge.
Mary Degree, who state records show is a registered Democrat, wrote in her complaint that some Republicans accepted the results of the 2020 election. But others resorted to an unlawful scheme that culminated in the violence on Jan. 6, she wrote — led in part by Cawthorn's predecessor in the far-western district, Republican Mark Meadows, who had left Congress to become Trump's chief of staff.
"The organizers of the rally were in close contact with several members of Congress or their staff during this time regarding the details of the rally, including Rep. Cawthorn or his staff," she wrote, citing media reports. "Those same organizers were also in touch with White House staff about the rally, including Meadows."
Meadows has refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the attack, leading the Democratic-majority House of Representatives to recommend he be criminally charged with contempt.
NBC News recently reported that Trump's political action committee gave $1 million to a group Meadows now helps lead, shortly after that congressional investigation was announced.
It's unclear if that committee has the power to force Cawthorn and other current members of Congress to cooperate. However, the voters challenging his residency believe that they can force him to testify about it in North Carolina even if not in Washington — since state law puts the burden of proof on the accused in matters of election eligibility.
Cawthorn has called that law unconstitutional and is seeking to get the challenges thrown out on that basis, and others, The News & Observer has reported.
Across the three complaints, Cawthorn faces challenges from voters both in his current district and in the new district he had said he was planning to run in.
He currently represents the far western part of the state but announced his plans to instead seek reelection in a newly drawn district around Gastonia and some other Charlotte suburbs — which Republican lawmakers were rumored to have drawn for their leader, N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, to run for Congress in.
Cawthorn criticized Moore in explaining why he decided to switch districts, The N&O reported, albeit not by name, saying "I'm afraid that another establishment, 'go along to get along Republican' would prevail there. I will not let that happen."
However, those congressional district lines were just tossed out by the N.C. Supreme Court as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. They will now have to quickly be redrawn, leading to yet-unknown changes in the lines before the 2022 elections, The N&O has reported.
The legislature remains in control of the process, at least for now — the court will have the opportunity to pick different maps if it doesn't like what Republican lawmakers redraw — and Moore told reporters on Monday that there will probably be votes on new maps next week.
The elections board wrote in its court filing Tuesday that unless at least one of the voters involved in the three challenges against Cawthorn still lives in whatever district he ends up running in, the complaints would be dismissed and would have to be refiled — but only if any voters in Cawthorn's new district wish to do so.
