Youngest House Member in Centuries: 'Cry More, Lib'

Madison Cawthorn, 25, elected in NC's 11th Congressional District
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 4, 2020 11:51 AM CST
AOC Loses 'Youngest Member in Modern History' Title
In this undated photo made available by Stephen Smith, GOP primary candidate Madison Cawthorn participates in a debate at the Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville, NC.   (Stephen Smith via AP)

"Cry more, lib." So reads the first post-election tweet from Madison Cawthorn, who will become the youngest House member in centuries. The 25-year-old Republican defeated Democratic opponent Moe Davis to take North Carolina's 11th Congressional District seat, vacated by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, per the AP. Cawthorn, a motivational speaker and real estate company owner who was partially paralyzed in a 2014 car accident, won the runoff for the seat in June though President Trump backed his opponent. He remains a staunch Trump supporter and referenced some of Trump's favorite targets in discussing his reasons for running. "Our faith, our freedoms and our values are under assault from coastal elites and leftists like Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," Cawthorn wrote on his website, per CNN.

Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest elected member in modern history in 2018 at age 29. (William Charles Cole Claiborne will remain the youngest member ever elected at age 22 in 1797.) Cawthorn holds deeply conservative views on abortion, guns, and immigration and was a speaker at the Republican National Convention. He has also had some thornier moments: Cawthorn denounced racism after photos surfaced of a 2017 trip he took to Adolf Hitler's German compound, Eagle's Nest, which Cawthorn described as a "bucket list" destination. Other photos showed him with the Betsy Ross flag, an apparent symbol of right-wing extremists, per Jezebel. In October, a website made by his campaign accused a journalist of working with "non-white males, like Cory Booker, who aims to ruin white males," per the Washington Post. Cawthorn now says he's "excited to serve each and every member of this district." (More Election 2020 stories.)

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