In the race to replace former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows, GOP candidate Lynda Bennett won the endorsements of a wide away of influential Republicans — from Donald Trump and Mark Meadows to Ted Cruz and the House Freedom Caucus — but it wasn’t enough.
Madison Cawthorn cruised to victory in the district’s primary runoff election on Tuesday, defeating Bennett 66 percent to 34 percent.
What Cawthorn lacked in support from Republicans in Washington, he made up for in youth and a moving biography:
Cawthorn received an appointment to the Naval Academy, but a car crash left him paralyzed below the waist, and he now works as a real-estate investor and as a motivational speaker. Cawthorn’s speech and debate coach was none other than Mark Meadows.
The 24-year-old Cawthorn turns 25, the minimum age set for House members by the Constitution, in August.