What NC Republicans are saying about Madison Cawthorn after his latest scandals [The Charlotte Observer]

Charlotte Observer (NC)

For months, North Carolina Republicans have found themselves reacting to a series of scandals, revelations and transgressions involving U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

From bringing a loaded gun to an airport, to charges of driving with a revoked license, to saying members of Congress have orgies and use drugs, to accusations of insider trading, to leaked photos and video, to calling the president of Ukraine a “thug,” the freshman GOP congressman has returned to the news again and again.

Some prominent Republicans have defended him, but others have criticized him or endorsed his rivals in the 11th Congressional District primary on May 17.

Here’s a sampling of what the GOP has been saying.

Thom Tillis

“Unfortunately, Madison Cawthorn has fallen well short of the most basic standards Western North Carolina expects from their representatives, and voters now have several well-qualified candidates to choose from who would be a significant improvement,” the U.S. senator said in March as he endorsed Chuck Edwards in the primary. Later, Tillis said in a tweet after a news report about Cawthorn’s stock trades: “Insider trading by a member of Congress is a serious betrayal of their oath, and Congressman Cawthorn owes North Carolinians an explanation.”

George Erwin

“There are people who will support him no matter what he does, but I’m starting to see more and more continually that people are abandoning him,” Erwin, a former Henderson County sheriff who once endorsed Cawthorn, told the Charlotte Observer. “People are seeing this stuff and we’re just disgusted with it.” Erwin endorsed Rod Honeycutt in the primary, WFAE reported.

Bo Hines

“We’re nothing alike. We have completely different backgrounds, completely different pasts,” the 13th Congressional District candidate told Axios this week. “Our only similarity is our age and our social conservative values. ... We still have those core conservative values like pro-life, free speech, you know, protecting parents rights, all that kind of stuff.” Earlier, Hines told WRAL: “We have different personalities. I think that we might have some different aspirations. While I do fully respect him, what he’s been able to do and I greatly appreciate his endorsement in this race, I think that people will start to get to know me better for who I am. We have separate visions of who we both are.”

Dwight Penland

“I think he’s standing up for our country and our state,” the Clay County commissioner told McClatchy for a March article. “He says what he thinks and he don’t back away from it, and he don’t sugarcoat nothing.”

Dan Eichenbaum

“We worked our behinds off to fill Congress with conservatives, and we did. And then they turned around and shafted us,” the chairman of the Cherokee County Commission told McClatchy for the March story. “That’s something we remember, and some of those people are still around and they should be gone. But someone like Madison Cawthorn, he opens his mouth and says what needs to be said and he’s not afraid to do it ... I respect that.”

Tim Moore

“I think he’s reckless,” the House speaker said of Cawthorn in an interview with McClatchy for the March story. “And I think the comments he has made most recently about Ukraine show a lack of understanding about international relations and possibly a lack of maturity. ... I’m saying with all due respect to Mr. Cawthorn, I don’t think he’s really interested in advancing any meaningful policy to help this state or this nation.”

Jim Davis

“People just think that he considers himself above the law,” the former state senator told McClatchy for the March story. “Why would you dump your wife for your political life? People are just upset with his priorities.”

Larry Shaheen

“He’s a pariah,” the conservative lawyer and political consultant told McClatchy for the March story. “We need a statesman. We don’t need a showman. Madison Cawthorn is a showman.”

Richard Burr

“That’s for his constituents to figure out but clearly he’s been an embarrassment at times,” the U.S. senator told CNN in March.

Dallas Woodhouse

“It is simply not a conservative value for an elected official to constantly behave as if they are above the laws of the state and the nation,” the former N.C. GOP executive director tweeted.

Pat McCrory

“I think our North Carolina Republican Party is being hijacked not only by the Club for Growth but also by current, previous members of the Freedom Caucus that I think are an embarrassment to the Republican Party. It’s not the Republican Party that I’ve been a part of since I was a young man,” the former governor and current U.S. Senate candidate told reporters on Tuesday. “And I’m talking about Madison Cawthorn who has made some horrendous comments, not just during the past month but during the past six months.”