'He’s done nothing': 2020 Madison Cawthorn voters are tired of his act

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Madison Cawthorn's re-election is no longer a certainty as North Carolina Republican voters who supported him in 2020 are looking elsewhere because he's more interested in grandstanding than he is in serving their needs.

While the Republican nominee for the district that the freshman lawmaker now represents will likely win in the 2020 midterm, the Journal's Natalie Andrews reports that Cawthorn is currently reeling as local and national Republicans criticize his antics.

As the Journal reports, "The brashness that catapulted freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn to national attention is wearing on some of his voters here in his rural district in the Blue Ridge Mountains," adding, "Interviews with voters here showed broad frustration with the telegenic Mr. Cawthorn, with many saying he has focused more on being on camera than on his district’s needs."

With Andrews noting that Cawthorn is being dogged by a series of "gaffes" -- from calling popular Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug" to talking about drug-fueled conservative orgies in Washington D.C. -- one former supporter of the GOP lawmaker claimed said he hasn't delivered for the folks back home.

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Restaurant owner Bonnie Whitener once had a billboard for Cawthorn in front of her business and held a fundraiser for him two years ago. Now she wants him out of office.

“He’s done nothing for the people of North Carolina,” she explained.

Matthew Burril, a businessman who is running for the GOP nomination against Cawthorn relayed his disappointment with his opponent, telling the Journal, "People gave him so much grace and he had this incredible runway in front of him and he just blew it.”

His comments were borne out by Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College, who said Cawthorn has only himself to blame for making the race to replace him tighten.

"If the primary electorate is heavily weighted toward Trump Republicanism, Mr. Cawthorn could clear the 30% bar and head straight to the general election, he [Blitzer] said. But if voters 'buck the former president and are exhausted from Cawthorn’s media and personal antics, then he could certainly face defeat,' he added."

"In interviews, voters repeatedly said that they feel as if the rest of the country and their state often ignores them. As such, many put an emphasis on how well Mr. Cawthorn is serving the district, rather than his headline-grabbing comments," the report states with Sarah Fricks, who voted for Cawthorn but will not in the primary, claiming, "It’s awful to be disappointed when you just see that bubble burst."

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