With new district maps in place and filing for the 2022 midterms elections in North Carolina beginning in December, the stage is set for candidates to contend for a key U.S. Senate seat and shifts in congressional representation.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) announced his run for the 13th congressional district, a district currently represented by Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.).
Cawthorn currently represents the 11th congressional district, a seat previously held by former Republican White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“We now have a brand-new congressional district and as it stands, the new lines have split my constituents,” Cawthorn said in a statement. “My house is almost directly on the line of separation from the 13th and 14th congressional district. And now, half the counties in the new district are counties I currently represent.”
His constituents have been split, he said, which is why he said he chose to switch to the 13th congressional district, where he said he could “make the greatest impact on the affairs of the state and our nation.”
“I have every confidence in the world that regardless of where I run, the 14th congressional district would send a patriotic fighter to D.C., but knowing the political realities of the 13th district, I’m afraid that another establishment go-along to get-along Republican would prevail there,” Cawthorn said.
Cawthorn is frequently seen at local school board meetings and freedom rallies in his district siding with parents who oppose mask mandates and critical race theory being taught in school.
Josh Remillard, a Democrat and U.S. Army veteran who had been campaigning for Cawthorn’s 11th district, announced on Monday that he will be running for the 13th congressional district just days after Cawthorn’s switch.
After the 2020 U.S. Census, North Carolina gained the 14th congressional district in the western part of the state due to the state’s population growth of 9.5 percent.
