Madison Cawthorn Runs Away with Runoff in NC-11

NC-11 – Madison Cawthorn, the 24 year old Henderson County real estate investor, convincingly won the Republican primary runoff election in the race to fill the former seat of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Cawthorn, who was endorsed by every other primary candidate after the first election, easily overcame local businesswoman Lynda Bennett, who was endorsed by Meadows, the House Freedom Caucus, and President Donald Trump.

It’s an impressive feat, especially for a political newcomer just barely old enough to hold the office he seeks, but it demonstrates the primacy of local, anti-establishment momentum in western North Carolina.

The endorsements of Lynda Bennett themselves, from the early nod from the Meadows circle, House Freedom, and then Trump, served to weigh on Bennett among the primary electorate instead of elevating her candidacy. Instead of a taking the endorsement as a genuine vote of confidence, which is likely from Meadows who’s family friends with Bennett, many voters expressed viewing it as an unfair coronation.

The other primary candidates seemed to hold that very sentiment, as they all endorsed Cawthorn, a decision made easy by the strength and character of this young leader.

But you might notice that victory emanating from strong local (conservative) support in NC-11, Cawthorn’s win is getting a whole lot of national attention. Of course, a photogenic 24 year old with an incredible story, who’s likely heading to congress in the fall is bound to draw some attention. Yet the real hook for the national media has little to do with the local conservative values that Cawthorn hopes to bring to Washington, D.C., and everything to do with the idea that he embarrassed Donald Trump by easily beating his chosen candidate.

The are positively giddy at the idea that Trump lost by proxy. They probably won’t be so happy when Mr. Cawthorn gets to congress though.

The Leftists at Slate admit that the joy they receive from upsetting Trump is intoxicating, even after acknowledging Cawthorn as ‘very conservative on every issue’ and diametrically opposed to bureaucratic, socialized medicine.

From Slate:

“[…] Cawthorn, who is very conservative on every issue, has an interesting story. He was nominated to go to the U.S. Naval Academy at 18, but a car crash in 2014 left him a paraplegic. His bills, he said, left him $3 million in medical debt as a teenager; he has since become a motivational speaker. As he told the Washington Examiner in a recent profile, he hopes his experience can allow him “to be the face of the Republican Party when it comes to healthcare.” (The health care section of his website says the following, on health care: “I believe patients and doctors, certainly not government bureaucrats, should be in charge of health care decisions. I’m for expanding choice and competition in our health care system. I strongly oppose the Democrats’ plans to create socialized medicine.” Well, sure, a new face.)

What’s delightful about Cawthorn’s win, though, is how mad it’s going to make President Trump at the person Cawthorn is replacing. North Carolina’s 11th District was previously represented by Mark Meadows, the former Freedom Caucus chairman who resigned from Congress earlier this year to serve as Trump’s chief of staff. Meadows had backed Bennett, a friend of his, and some North Carolina GOP observers suspected that the last-minute timing of his retirement announcement before the filing deadline was designed to benefit her. Meadows, further, convinced his boss, President Trump, to endorse Bennett. Trump recorded robocalls for her.

So there is now a 24-year-old Republican with a great story who’s about to be the beneficiary of both significant national press and a GOP marketing push as “the rising star counterweight to AOC” or some such (they’re both young, etc.) And Trump, at his chief’s prompting, will have endorsed the other candidate, who lost by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.

It’s going to be an unpleasant few days for Mark Meadows.”

How petty.

And probably wrong. Contrary to the Left’s imaginations, the White House chief of staff and the Commander in Chief are what you would call, ‘big boys.’ There is surely less pouting going on, and more condolences and consolidation of Republican support to lock up a victory in November.

Meadows, a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, and Trump, the most anti-establishment president in modern times, are certainly not dismayed at the prospects of an Anti-AOC with strong conservative values in Congress.

And neither are we. If there were ever a time to have an antidote to fight the post-modern drivel that falls out of the face of AOC and every other young woke warrior, it is now.

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