Rep. Madison Cawthorn Files Lawsuit After Voters Try To Block Him From Ballot

North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R) filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections after voters filed a lawsuit to block him from running for reelection. They cited a violation of the 14th Amendment as the reason for the lawsuit.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office … who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

They said that Cawthorn played a “substantial” role in last year’s Jan. 6 Capitol attack, as he spoke at a rally the morning of Jan. 6. At the rally, he claimed that the election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump.

“The Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice,” Cawthorn said that morning. “Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard.”

In Monday’s lawsuit, Cawthorn claimed that he is eligible to run again because he did not take part in an insurrection or rebellion. He filed for candidacy in North Carolina’s 13th district last November, which is more conservative than the 11th district that he currently represents.

The 14th Amendment is “being used as a weapon by liberal Democrats to attempt to defeat our democracy by having state bureaucrats, rather than the people, choose who will represent North Carolina in Congress,” Cawthorn said. “I’m defending not only my rights but the right of the people to democratically elect their representatives.”