Buckling under the weight of scandal, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C. — a favorite of former President Donald Trump — conceded that he had lost his re-nomination bid in western North Carolina’s 11th District Tuesday.
Cawthorn spokesman Luke Ball told reporters Tuesday night that the congressman had called state Sen. Chuck Edwards, a conservative backed by many of the state’s establishment players, to concede the race.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Cawthorn, 26, lost despite an 11th-hour appeal from Trump, who encouraged voters to look past the young lawmaker’s run-ins with the law, claims that fellow lawmakers use cocaine and engage in orgies, and images of the first-term congressman wearing lingerie and gyrating naked atop another man in bed.