Madison Cawthorn says he'll contest Biden's election victory in Congress next month

Western North Carolina’s incoming congressman says he’ll contest the results of the 2020 presidential election, a move political experts say has no realistic chance of keeping President-elect Joe Biden from taking office next month.

Republican Madison Cawthorn, who handily won the 11th Congressional District in November, announced his plans to challenge Biden’s victory when Congress convenes on Jan. 6 to count the Electoral College results.

“The right to vote in a free and fair election is the cornerstone of our Republic,” Cawthorn tweeted on Monday. “Attempts to subvert the Constitutional authority of state legislatures to conduct elections strikes at the very heart of representative government. I choose to stand in the breach, to fight for us.”

He made similar remarks this week while speaking at the Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit, a conservative youth conference in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Earlier this month, states certified their Electoral College results. Biden secured the election overall with 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 232.

On the summit stage, Cawthorn echoed a series of unsubstantiated allegations made by fellow Republicans that liberal governors and secretaries of state had “broken the law and gone against the Constitution in this election.” Courts have consistently upheld the election outcomes against challenges in every swing state, including those of Georgia and Arizona which have Republican governors.

Since Election Day, judges have rejected nearly every election lawsuit made by the Trump administration and Republican officials who have made baseless claims about illegal ballot dumps, faulty vote counting machines, and scheming poll workers. Pre-election actions by state election bodies - like the N.C. State Board of Elections extending the deadline for mail-in ballots - have already been adjudicated in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Constitution requires both chambers of Congress to meet before Inauguration Day to count the electoral votes from every state. This typically ceremonial event has become more complex this year as Cawthorn joined a small group of Republican representatives who intend to contest the electoral count.

Any formal challenge requires a U.S. Senator to join, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already acknowledged Biden as President-elect. The Associated Press also reported last week that McConnell has said challenging the Electoral College would be a “terrible vote.”

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Cawthorn’s spokesperson Micah Bock did not respond to an inquiry about whether Cawthorn believes that challenging the election’s results could succeed in overturning the election.

At 25, Cawthorn, a Henderson native, will become the youngest elected representative in Congress since the late 1700s when he assumes office on Jan. 3. Last month, he defeated Democrat Moe Davis by 13-points to claim the seat occupied for four terms by the Trump Administration’s current chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Some believe Cawthorn, like his predecessor Meadows, is seizing opportunities to grab headlines in order to build political clout in the Capitol.

“There are two ways to gain power in Washington — learning to manipulate the levers of power from within the institution, or going outside' and trying to gain power by creating a name with the public and the media,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. “Cawthorn is clearly attempting to practice the second of these strategies.”

Brian Gordon is a statewide reporter with the USA Today Network in North Carolina. Reach him at bgordon@gannett.com or on Twitter @briansamuel92.