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There is no doubt: Madison Cawthorn is a polarizing figure. No more so than within his own party.

"If Madison Cawthorn is the Republican on the ballot in the 13th (District), I'm not voting for Madison Cawthorn. I will vote for the Democrat," said former state Rep. Charles Jeter, who served in the North Carolina General Assembly from 2012 to 2016.

That is no small statement, considering it came from a Mecklenburg County Republican. Jeter resides in the newly drawn 13th Congressional District, the one Cawthorn has decided to run for next year.

"People will say 'Well, you're going to put Pelosi in charge,'" Jeter said, acknowledging the wrath he is likely to endure from fellow Republicans for speaking out against another party member, especially one so closely aligned with former President Donald Trump.

"Well, you know what? I'd rather have a grown up in the room," Jeter said.

Cawthorn's move to the 13th is a bold one for a 26-year-old freshman congressman, according to Meredith College Political Science Professor David McLennan.

"It's highly unusual for someone to move to a district outside of the one they're serving," McLennan said. "I mean, you don't see incumbents running in different districts very often."

Cawthorn's decision came after the North Carolina General Assembly's Republican majority completed new district maps for the decade. Those maps face legal challenges and are set for trial in state court early next month.

But for now, Cawthorn has filed to run in the 13th, a district that includes part of Mecklenburg County, a major media market, and then, moving west, Gaston, Rutherford, Polk, Burke, McDowell, and most notably, Cleveland County.

Catawba College Political Science Professor Michael Bitzer said Cawthorn's maneuvering was all the more shocking because it seemed to alter the trajectory of state Rep. Tim Moore, the Speaker of the House. Many political observers believed the new 13th District was specially tailored for a congressional run by Moore, a Cleveland County Republican.

But last month, Moore bowed out immediately after Cawthorn announced his bid for the 13th in a video posted on social media.

"We were first in flight, first in freedom and together we will put America first for generations to come," Cawthorn said in his recorded statement.

In that same video, Cawthorn also stated he was switching to the 13th because he was "afraid that another establishment, go-along-to-get-along Republican would prevail there."

That comment did not sit well with Dennis Bailey, a former Cleveland County GOP chairman, who, like many people, saw the slight as aimed at Tim Moore.

"Anybody that thinks he's a 'go-along-to-get-along' doesn't know Tim Moore." Bailey said, in an interview outside a downtown Shelby restaurant where the Cleveland County GOP was holding its Christmas Party.

Bailey said he thinks Cawthorn could be seen as an outsider in a 13th District Republican primary. Cawthorn is from Henderson County, part of what has been redrawn as the 14th Congressional District.

"Carpet baggers don't tend to do well, in my mind," Bailey said. "I don't think you can represent a district that you're not in and from."

Danny Lee Blanton, another attendee of the Cleveland County GOP Christmas Party that night, said he shares Bailey's view.

"If I'm going to vote for him, I want him to live here," Blanton, a Cleveland County School Board member, said of Cawthorn.

There is no requirement that members of congress live in the district they represent, though they typically do. And the new 13th District does include some counties that are in the western North Carolina district Cawthorn currently represents.

Catawba College Political Scientist Michael Bitzer says the "go-along-to-get-along" label couldn't be more inaccurate as applied to Moore. The longtime House Speaker has championed lower corporate and personal income taxes and opposed the expansion of Medicaid coverage.

"He has adhered to the Republican ideological orthodoxy of social conservatism, economic conservatism," Bitzer said of Moore.

Cawthorn has said he wasn't speaking about any particular politician when he used the "go-along-to-get-along" phrase.

But policy is beside the point when it comes to Cawthorn, according to Western North Carolina University Political Science Prof. Chris Cooper.

"This is a rhetorical and tactical difference when we talk about 'establishment wing of the party' versus the 'Madison Cawthorn, Mark Robinson, Donald Trump wing of the party,'" Cooper said. "It's not about ideology; it's about style."

And it is about fulfilling a mission to spread the gospel of Trump.

"Cawthorn has got a strategy, and he has been quite explicit about saying, he wants to get more pro-Trump Republicans in congress," said Meredith College Political Science Prof. and Poll Director David McLennan.

That strategy was on full display a couple of weeks ago when Cawthorn and some other Republicans met with Trump at the ex-President's Mar-a-Lago resort, in Florida. According to widespread news reports, Cawthorn presented his own plan dictating which candidates should run for which North Carolina Congressional districts.

That plan included Republican Mark Walker switching from a U.S. Senate run to a Congressional race, paving the way for Trump endorsee Ted Budd to challenge former Gov. Pat McCrory in a GOP senate primary.

In an email exchange with WUNC, Cawthorn's campaign spokesman declined to provide details about the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Cawthorn's brash style clearly resonates with Republican voters like Ronnie Grigg. Grigg is a candidate for the Cleveland County School Board and was also attending the local GOP's Christmas Party.

"Well I just think he stands firm on his beliefs and I think that's what we need," Grigg said. "We need somebody that's strong a strong conservative."

Nannette Leonhart, another Cleveland County resident and Republican Party member, also said she likes what she has seen of Cawthorn online.

"He's a go-getter. He's not going to back down from the issues," Leonhart said.

One of those issues is questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. A conversation with Leonhart made clear she subscribes to the baseless claim that the election was stolen from ex-President Trump even though extensive post-election audits, thorough ballot counting and frivolous lawsuits have shown the claim to be a lie.

None of that seems to make a difference to Cleveland County GOP voter Linda Robinson either, who said about Trump: "He still is our president. It was stolen, admit it."

And Robinson indicated she was impressed that Cawthorn joined the ex-President at the Jan. 6 rally after which pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent coup attempt.

Barring any court-ordered redraw of the Congressional district map and without any Tim Moore-caliber Republicans to challenge him in a primary, there is very little standing in Cawthorn's way to victory in the 13th, a district drawn to heavily favor a GOP candidate.

There are other Republicans who have declared their intention to run for the GOP nomination in the 13th. They include Karen Bentley, a former Mecklenburg County Commissioner, and former Huntersville Mayor John Aneralla.

Neither Bentley nor Aneralla got to file before the North Carolina Supreme Court suspended 2022 candidate filing and postponed the primaries until May pending litigation over state Legislative and Congressional District maps.

But Aneralla, who also has served as the Mecklenburg County GOP Chairman, while touting what he saw as his geographic advantage in a primary, implicitly acknowledged that even a Republican like him with a record of civic and political leadership faces a daunting task in taking on someone with the public profile of Cawthorn.

"All things being equal, 52% of the vote is in Gaston County and Mecklenburg County," Aneralla said. "That's where the bulk of the vote will come from. However, you know, having big-name I.D., good or bad, will help in the primary."

For former state Representative and Mecklenburg County Republican Charles Jeter, the stakes in a 13th District GOP primary are high.

"To me, I don't want to get too melodramatic," Jeter said. "But I really do believe it's the soul of Republican Party."

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Is Madison Cawthorn on a crusade for the 'soul' of the Republican Party? - WUNC

For the first two years of Trumps presidency, Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate. They werent very interested in looking into wrongdoing by Trump or other members of his administration, even when there were numerous indications that it was taking place. One area where some members readily used their oversight powers, however, was to go after the Russia investigation and those who had set it into motion. Most of these actions took place through the House Intelligence Committee; its then-chairman, Devin Nunes, is retiring from Congress after this term to join Trumps new media operation.

Its doubtful that Republicans would take a similarly laissez-faire approach to executive branch oversight if they win next November. To the contrary, they have expressed interest in a wide range of issues already. Some arent completely without merit: Lawmakers from both parties have demanded answers about the chaotic nature of the Afghanistan withdrawal over the summer. But others have a more partisan sheen. In September, a group of GOP members of the House Oversight Committee requested documents from an art gallery owner about his role in the sale of Hunter Bidens paintings.

The younger Biden is no stranger to bad-faith GOP inquiries. Trumps first impeachment, in 2019, came after Congress learned he had pressured the Ukrainian government to smear the elder Biden with corruption allegations related to his son, a Ukrainian energy company that Hunter had worked for while his father was vice president, and Joe Bidens own role in pressuring Ukraine on an investigation into that company. The Burisma allegations never made much sense because Biden was pressuring a Ukrainian prosecutor to go harder, not easier, on the company. Even the GOP-led Senate Homeland Security Committee failed to turn up any evidence of wrongdoing on Bidens part when it released a report on the matter last September.

So it would be unsurprising that the GOP might want to take another whack at the presidents troubled son after 2022, or go after any high-ranking Biden administration officials, or even try to target prominent people in the Democratic orbit. Top Republican lawmakers havent exactly hidden their ambitions to use congressional investigations to inflict political damage on their Democratic opponents. After four Americans died in a terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya in 2012, GOP lawmakers spent the next four years holding hearings and launching probes into the attack. Congress couldnt be faulted for launching inquiries into an incident in which a U.S. ambassador died, of course, but it soon became obvious that its real target was thenSecretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Republicans Warn of Reprisals if They Win Back the House in 2022 - The New Republic

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Gov. Tom Wolfs administration and a voting-system manufacturer are trying to prevent Republican lawmakers from expanding what they call a forensic investigation of Pennsylvanias 2020 election to a new front, inspecting voting machines.

It is another step driven by former President Donald Trumps baseless claims about election fraud.

Lawyers for Wolfs top election official, Veronica DeGraffenreid, asked a court late Friday afternoon to stop a digital data exchange scheduled for Wednesday in southern Pennsylvanias sparsely populated Fulton County.

The election equipment used in last years presidential election in the heavily Republican county has already been decertified by the state after Fulton County let a software company inspect the equipment. The firm was not federally accredited to test voting machines.

Allowing a similarly unaccredited and inexperienced contractor hired by Pennsylvanias Senate Republicans to obtain digital data from the equipment will spoil evidence in Fulton Countys lawsuit challenging the states decertification, lawyers for DeGraffenreid wrote in a court filing.

Meanwhile, Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems warned Fulton County that granting the Senate Republicans contractor access to its equipments digital data violates their contract.

In a letter to a Dominion official, a lawyer representing Fulton County said granting the request is allowed under the contract. Separately, the lawyer, Tom King, told state lawyers that handing over the digital data will not affect the court case or the states rights in court.

More: GOPs election case in Pa. court focuses on privacy, Trump

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Pa. Gov. Wolf, manufacturers want to keep Republican election investigation away from voting machines - PennLive

The ink had barely dried on the COVID relief package Democrats passed in the spring when some of the same Republicans who voted against the legislation began touting its benefits in their districts, an example of the partys efforts to have it both waysto reflexively bash Joe Biden and the Democrats while claiming credit for the popular parts of their agenda. Now, as they lambast the president for what they describe as out-of-control spending, theyre taking a similar tack: Decrying the American Rescue Plan and other initiatives in their attacks on Biden over inflation, even as they embrace the resources such plans have afforded.

As the New York Times reported Wednesday, Republican governors have made use of Bidens COVID stimulus money, even as they condemn it in public remarks as a giant handout. It would be spent somewhere other than South Dakota, said Governor Kristi Noem, who previously suggested she would turn down the nearly one billion dollars in federal funding but has since made plans to put the money toward water projects, housing, and daycare in the state. The debt would still be incurred by the country, and our people would still suffer the consequences of that spending.

Montanans are struggling with the Biden inflation tax, seeing their paychecks stretched thinner and thinner as inflation hits a high we havent seen in nearly four decades, Governor Greg Gianforte said last week, after Consumer Price Index numbers showed inflation soaring by 6.8% in November over the previous year. I urge President Biden and Democrats in D.C. to turn off the spigot of out-of-control spending and get inflation under control. Per the Times, that spigot has poured about $906 million into Gianfortes state, which has used the federal dollars for infrastructure projects and other measures.

This is not to suggest that these states do not deserve federal dollars or that governors critical of Biden shouldnt be making use of their portions. Residents of these states should benefit from the COVID bailout. But it is, of course, hypocritical to rail against these so-called handouts while they stretch their hands out to the administration.

Inflation has emerged as a significant challenge for Biden, whose otherwise solid economic rebound has been nagged by high consumer prices. Much of the issue appears to be driven by demand and a disjointed supply chain. But the American Rescue Plan has, indeed, seemed to contribute to the overheated economy, and criticizing the policy is by no means out of bounds. Missing from the GOP broadsides, though, are the very real benefits of the legislation, which theyve appeared willing to accept.

Ive had direct conversations with virtually all of the Republican governors or their top officials, Gene Sperling, who is leading the Biden administrations pandemic relief efforts, told the Times. And to the one, they have been constructive, nonpolitical, nuts and bolts conversations about how they can best use their American Rescue Plan funds for things like broadband, schools, water and work force development in a way that meets the needs of their state.

Republicans understandably turn to the government for assistance when their state needs it, as Kentucky Senator Rand Paul did in recently urging Biden to move expeditiously to approve the appropriate resources our state following the devastation from tornadoes; the president declared a federal disaster the next day. But as the Washington Post notes, the senators request conjured memories of Pauls own lengthy history of opposing congressional legislation written to address past disasters, including bills passed following hurricanes Sandy, Harvey and Maria directing billions of dollars of assistance to stricken Americans. Paul told the paper that critics were distorting his record. We should do all we can to help our Kentucky neighbors, Rep. Eric Swalwell tweeted. God be with themthey are hurting. But do not for one second forget that [Paul] has voted against helping most Americans most times theyre in need.

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Republican Governors Have No Problem Spending the COVID Relief Money They Opposed - Vanity Fair

OPINION:

We are likely going to suffer through a year of triumphalism among some Republicans in anticipation of the party winning control of the House and probably the Senate in November. Some of that is warranted; if you project the results in Virginia nationwide, it looks like the Republicans should net between 40 and 50 seats in the House.

It also is likely that with competitive races for Democrat-held seats in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and New Hampshire, the Republicans will find the one Senate seat they need to preside over the Senate (although some of the potential Republican Senate nominees may decrease the odds a bit).

Will Republican control of Congress be a good thing? That probably depends on whether congressional Republicans are ready to present and press for alternatives to the policies of the Democrats.

We all watched the recent debt ceiling increase, in which Republican leadership in the Senate did not merely allow but actually created the pathway for the Democrats to increase the debt ceiling without any legislative friction. That could be an uncomfortable preview of the coming year and the years after that.

Congressional Republicans, especially those in the Senate, appear to be much more concerned about having the majority than they are about doing anything with the majority. Senate Republican leadership has already said that it has no intention of providing any clarity concerning its policy preferences if it presides over the Senate.

In the absence of affirmative messages, Republicans, who could not be bothered to construct a platform in 2020, nor execute any formal assessment as to why they lost in 2020, may default to being opposed to whatever the other side is doing. That would be unfortunate. Team Biden will turn that negativity against Republicans in 2024.

Remember that former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama managed to win reelection after terrible midterm losses by using congressional Republicans as foils.

Some dont seem to understand that the time is over when just being in charge was enough. Voters, especially Republican voters, expect genuine efforts to push back against the prevailing regime and promote an agenda focused on something (security, prosperity, freedom, whatever).

Nor should the current composition of Congress encourage much optimism. The current generation of media stars are often those least able to shepherd a coherent thought, let alone a coherent ideology or a coherent legislative program.

Fortunately, there is hope, especially in the House. There, several lawmakers, most notably Rep. Gary Palmer from Alabama, chair of the Republican Policy Committee, and Rep. Jim Banks from Indiana, chair of the House Republican Study Committee, are focused on positive alternatives to those being pursued by Team Biden and the progressives.

I was fortunate enough to visit with Mr. Palmer recently, and he shared his vision for defining policy differences between Republicans and Democrats. Mr. Palmer is a bit of a policy polymath; he switched seamlessly among topics including China, law enforcement, border security, history and health care. His responses and approaches were invariably grounded in data and facts.

He believes, rightly, that Republicans need to focus on national security (China, immigration), local security (think crime), personal security (data, health care) and the many and varied ways in which the current regime has compromised all three. His approaches are built on enhancing the freedom and responsibility of the individual rather than the power and authority of the state.

Those who care about such things should watch Mr. Palmer and his allies closely and expect more expansive and granular explications of his and their ideas soon.

The good news for the republic is that there are still members like Mr. Palmer, who can weave facts, data and principles through thoughtful deliberation into meaningful and winning legislative proposals and, eventually, into useful and productive laws.

Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the president of MWR Strategies. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.

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Republicans need solid policies and thoughtful leaders in Congress - Washington Times