Former North Carolina GOP Congressman Madison Cawthorn was arrested in Florida on Wednesday for failing to appear in court on a charge of driving without a valid license, just as he had been preparing to make his political comeback with a run for Rep. Byron Donalds's seat in Florida's 19th district.
Cawthorn was arrested in Cape Coral after failing to appear in court in Collier County that morning for a citation in Naples on August 19.
“Former Congressman, Madison Cawthorn, was arrested earlier today for failure to appear for a routine traffic infraction,” Cawthorn’s representatives said in a statement. “Madison keeps a very busy schedule and, due to a scheduling misunderstanding, did not appear in court this morning. Following processing Madison was immediately released.”
Cawthorn has been living in Cape Coral, which is part of Donalds's district. He is partially paralyzed from an accident when he was 18 and uses a wheelchair.
Donalds indicated in February that he would not seek re-election in order to run for governor in 2026, so his seat will be open.
Axios had reported on September 3 that Cawthorn planned to run for the open seat.
Cawthorn lost his re-election bid to Congress in 2022 after several controversies regarding him hit the news.
An argument between Cawthorn and then-West Virginia Republican Rep. David McKinley over cosponsorship of a bill resulted in McKinley filing an ethics complaint against him in 2021.
Then, during a March 2022 interview, Cawthorn accused members of Congress of inviting him to an orgy and using cocaine in front of him.
His comments caused a firestorm as Democrats pounced on them, and Cawthorn later admitted to then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy that he had exaggerated his claims.
He said that he observed what he thought was drug use from 100 yards away, and that he probably misconstrued the invitation.
After leaving office in 2023, Cawthorn was accused of tailgating a woman in Florida and rear-ending a Highway Patrol officer in 2024, as reported by the New York Post.
It was unclear whether Cawthorn was charged or cited for the accident.
If Cawthorn plans to revive his political career, I think he's going to have to do better than yet another brush with the law and claiming he was too busy to show up in court or remember when he was supposed to do so.
He was considered a promising up-and-comer when he was first elected, but no one wants to deal with more scandals and have someone who seems volatile and unstable as a leader.
