Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) told Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Monday that his political opponents have a legitimate shot at preventing him from running for re-election.
During an interview, Carlson asked Cawthorn just how close his opponents are to barring him from serving in Congress.
"They are actually very close," Cawthorn conceded. "The North Carolina State Board of Elections, a panel of five people, is asserting that they have the ability to bar 740,000-plus Americans from my district from being able to elect me and send me to Washington."
NC State Board of Elections Chairman Damon Circosta argued in a filing earlier this month that the board's power to disqualify candidates within the state is constitutionally protected.
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"In policing candidate qualifications pursuant to its constitutionally delegated election duties, however, the State does not run afoul of Article I, Section 5," the motion reads. "The State does not judge the qualifications of the elected members of the U.S. House of Representative. It polices candidate qualifications prior to the elections.... states have long enforced age and residency requirements, without question and with very few if any legal challenges. The State has the same authority to police which candidates should or should not be disqualified per Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment."
The filing then goes on to directly quote the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that Americans are disqualified from holding public office if they "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the [United States government], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
Watch the video below.
Tucker: How close are they to preventing you from running for office?\nCawthorn: They are actually very close\u2026pic.twitter.com/GIbSAkbN6f— Acyn (@Acyn) 1645495566
