Rep. Madison Cawthorn.Photo: Zuma/SplashNews.com
Rep.Madison Cawthornis vowing to move ahead with his reelection campaign after a legal challenge in his state argues he is ineligible to run for office because of his ties to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
“The woke mob won’t stop me,“he also tweeted.
The group of 11 voters say they “have reasonable suspicion that Cawthorn was involved in either planning the attack on January 6, or alternatively the planning of the pre-attack demonstration and/or march on the Capitol with the advance knowledge that it was substantially likely to lead to the attack, and otherwise voluntarily aided the insurrection,” according to their notice of candidacy challengefiled with the N.C. State Board of Elections.
Cawthorn spoke at a rally near the White House on the morning of Jan. 6.
“The Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice,” he reportedly said. “Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard.”
Then-PresidentDonald Trumpalso addressed the rally attendees, urging them to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” A mob of his supporters subsequently ransacked the complex with members of Congress inside. Five people died.
“I was telling that crowd, ‘I’m going to fight for you. Your voice is being heard. I’m going to affect change on your behalf.’ "
Since then, however, Cawthorn has continued to make claims about the integrity of the 2020 election.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
According to the complaint, Cawthorn’s challengers are registered in the district he hopes to represent in 2023.
They cited the Constitution’s14th Amendment, which prohibits holding office to those who’ve “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
The group states their belief that Cawthorn’s involvement qualifies as insurrection, defined in their challenge as “actions against the United States with the intent to overthrow the government of the United States or obstruct an essential constitutional function.”
A rep for Cawthorn did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment buttold the Associated Pressthat “over 245,000 patriots from western North Carolina elected Congressman Cawthorn to serve them in Washington,” referring to his district 11 win in 2020.
“A dozen activists who are comically misinterpreting and twisting the 14th Amendment for political gain will not distract him from that service,” the spokesman, Luke Ball, also said.
According to the AP, the state board scheduled a meeting for Wednesday to create a five-member panel to hear the challenge.
source: people.com
