Cawthorn served one term in Congress from 2021 to 2023 in North Carolina and lost his reelection primary. He is now making a political comeback in Florida.
Former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) will run for Congress in 2026 in the district currently represented by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who is running for governor of Florida.
“I’m running for Congress to stand with President Trump, defend our conservative values, and fight to stop the radical left every single time. I’ll fight to lower out-of-control insurance costs and stop crime in our streets, and deport illegals,” Cawthorn said in a campaign announcement video.
His website emphasized border security, the Second Amendment, and ending “woke ideology” as campaign themes.
Cawthorn served one term in the House of Representatives during the 118th Congress, from 2021 to 2023, representing North Carolina’s 11th District, before losing the 2022 Republican primary to then-state Sen. Chuck Edwards, who now holds the seat.
He is now seeking the Republican nomination in Florida’s 19th Congressional District, which includes Gulf Coast cities such as Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Naples.
“When Hurricane Ian devastated Cape Coral, I stood shoulder to shoulder with my neighbors helping families, delivering supplies, and rebuilding together,” Cawthorn said in a statement to The Epoch Times, repeating a quotation from his campaign announcement video.
Florida’s 19th district, which Donalds has represented since 2021, has a Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) score of R+14, making it heavily Republican. The winner of the Republican primary there is generally considered the presumptive winner of the general election.
Cawthorn isn’t the only former elected official running in the GOP primary.
Former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who served in Congress from 2013 to 2019, is also running. Collins resigned from Congress in 2019 after he pleaded guilty in federal court to felony insider trading and making false statements to a federal official. He was later pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020.
Cawthorn’s political brand has revolved around his support for Trump.
By Arjun Singh
