At 25, Republican Madison Cawthorn has become the youngest elected member of Congress after beating Democratic Rep. Moe Davis for the House seat in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district.
“If you don’t think young people can change the world, then you don’t know American history,” Cawthorn said during his speech at the Republican National Convention in August.
Cawthorn defeated Davis, a 62-year-old retired Air Force colonel, by 12 percentage points.
The seat has been vacant since Mark Meadows, who won the seat in 2012, resigned in March to become the White House chief of staff, succeeding Mick Mulvaney. In June, Cawthorn unexpectedly won against the candidate backed by President Donald Trump and Meadows, Lynda Bennett.
When he is sworn into office in January, Cawthorn will be the minimum age required by the Constitution to serve as a member of the House of Representatives. Currently, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sworn in when she was 29, holds the title of youngest member of Congress.
Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down at age 18 after a car accident, gained notoriety in August when he gave his RNC speech and stood up from his wheelchair with help.
“At 20, I thought about giving up. However, I knew I could still make a difference. My accident gave me new eyes to see, and new ears to hear,” he said. “At 20, I made a choice. In 2020, our country has a choice. We can give up on the American idea, or we can work together to make our imperfect union more perfect.”
But Cawthorn’s campaign has also been plagued by several allegations of racism and sexual assault. Allegations of racism came after expressing enthusiasm in a 2017 social media post about visiting Adolph Hitler’s mountain top chalet, the “Eagle’s Nest.” Later, on his campaign website, Cawthorn accused Sen. Cory Booker of trying to “ruin white males running for office.” Cawthorn has also been accused of sexual assault by multiple women.
Cawthorn celebrated his historic victory on Twitter, saying, “Cry more, lib.”