Here's Why Madison Cawthorn May Not Get Re-Elected in the Midterms

There's more than one way to stop Trump supporters from polluting our political system in future elections.

This brilliant tactic is the 14th Amendment.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections - which oversees the scrutiny of candidates' qualifications - received a letter from 11 voters yesterday challenging Madison Cawthorn's ability to re-run for Congress in the midterms.

The voters cited his participation in a rally last January in Washington that questioned the presidential election outcome and preceded the Capitol riot.

Cawthorn who formally filed as a candidate for the newly created 13th District seat last month, should be ineligible the voters contend because he fails to comply with an amendment in the Constitution ratified shortly after the Civil War.

That would be the aforementioned 14th Amendment which states, "No one can serve in Congress... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same."

Guess what Cawthorn did? 

The written challenge says events on Jan. 6, 2021 "amounted to an insurrection" and that his speech at the rally supporting Trump, his other comments and information in published reports provide a "reasonable suspicion or belief" that he helped facilitate the insurrection (there's that word again). 

Meanwhile, the legal director, Ron Fein, of Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group is backing the challenge. 

Fein told the Associated Press that Cawthorn is only the tip of the insurrectionist iceberg. The group intends to file against other members of Congress associated with the insurrection. 

The "leading national precedent" for such cases was created in 1869 by the North Carolina Supreme Court, which describes the meaning of "engage" when it comes to a disqualifying act of insurrection.

The challengers also asked the board to let them question Cawthorn under oath in a deposition before the regional panel convenes, and to subpoena him and others to obtain documents.

What I liked hearing was that state law says Cawthorn has the burden to "show by a preponderance of the evidence" that he's qualified to run.

It looks like one of Trump's congressional minions will be looking for a new line of work if the state disqualifies him.

As for other Trump candidates running in the midterms, they too may find they're not getting out of the gate to even compete next November.