Reporter booted out of Madison Cawthorn party describes 'stunning and sudden desertion of his closest allies'
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) lost his primary election Tuesday night after months of infuriating his Republican colleagues.
Independent reporter John Bowden, who was there to cover Cawthorn's election night party, says he was asked to leave by the Hendersonville, North Carolina police who were on hand. The event was in a small auto detailer and tire shop where Cawthorn operated his campaign.
The crowd fled once it became clear that Cawthorn lost, and Bowden writes that he "witnessed a stunning and sudden desertion of Cawthorn’s closest supporters and allies as it became clear that he’d lost."
Bowden noted that while Cawthorn was suffering a defeat, Sen. Chuck Edwards' campaign was still partying. He was shaking hands and taking photos. Cawthorn's lights were out — in more ways than one.
"It wasn’t explicitly mentioned, but my unceremonious ejection from the party appeared to be at the behest of campaign staffers for the youngest member of Congress," wrote Bowden. At one point he took photos of the vacating cars and walked across the street to take pics of the near-empty parking lot.
“Streets are for vehicles,” one "kindly advised me," as Bowden walked across the empty street to take a photo.
Cawthorn then delivered his own election night rant, blaming the GOP for his downfall, although he did give a "polite" call to Edwards, conceding to the candidate.
Newly-reelected state Rep. Jake Johnson "was overheard before he left joking with another Edwards supporter about a steady leak of sexually explicit images and videos of Cawthorn spearheaded by an anti-Cawthorn super PAC over the past few months," Boden wrote.
“I guess it was one video too many,” Johnson said, laughing at Cawthorn.
“Who knows what other videos are out there?" the person he was speaking to quipped back.
Cawthorn was not only the youngest person ever elected to Congress he was also the youngest person ever to be kicked out of Congress. In North Carolina, if the election had been close, the two men would have been sent to a runoff. But Cawthorn lost by so much that it wouldn't be in the cards.
In wake of the humiliating loss, he was ridiculed by "The View" for his claim that Trump is loyal and would back him until the end.
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