Rep. Madison Cawthorn is supporting a primary challenger to anti-Trump Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Cawthorn, a freshman Republican congressman from North Carolina, announced his support for Catalina Lauf, a former adviser at the Commerce Department under President Donald Trump, in her bid to unseat Kinzinger in Illinois’s 16th Congressional District.
“There is no place in the Republican Party for a Pelosi Republican,” Cawthorn exclusively told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “Adam Kinzinger has bowed the knee to the radical Left time and time again. His puppeteering of patriotism ends now. America needs leaders, not lackeys, and I am honored to support a true political outsider in Catalina Lauf.”
ADAM KINZINGER ACCEPTS PELOSI’S INVITATION TO JOIN JAN. 6 COMMISSION
Cawthorn said Lauf is “dedicated to working for, not against, the interests of the people of Illinois” in a statement.
“I know that she will be a powerful fighter in Washington,” he added, condemning Kinzinger as a “D.C. insider.”
Lauf said she was “honored” to have the endorsement from the freshman congressman, whom she applauded for his “passion, tenacity, authenticity, and courage.”
“We are grateful for the faith Congressman Cawthorn has shown in our campaign and our mission to take on Pelosi Republican Adam Kinzinger,” she added.
On Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy coined the term “Pelosi Republican” in issuing criticism of Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, both of whom have been appointed to the Jan. 6 commission in part due to their fervent criticism of Trump.
The pair of anti-Trump GOP lawmakers blasted the former president during their remarks at the commission’s first hearing on Tuesday, and their criticism has led to some in the GOP to call for them being expelled from the House GOP conference.
“The reality is, they’re now basically working with and for the Democrats, and so it’d be awkward for them to be sitting in our committee while we talk about policy, put, you know, strategy and how to stop bad policy from the Democrats and advance good policy from us. It’d be really awkward,” Rep. Andy Biggs, who introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would expel all members who sit on committees to which they were not appointed by the Republican leader or the House Republican steering committee, told the Washington Examiner.
The resolution did not gain traction, but Biggs remains hopeful the proposal will be “reconsidered.”
The battle for the future of the GOP as it heads into the 2022 midterm elections has resulted in what critics have argued amounts to a purity test of loyalty to Trump. Cheney, known for her public rows with Trump, was voted out of her place in House GOP leadership in mid-May and replaced by Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist from upstate New York.
Trump has relished his role at the heart of GOP politics, offering up endorsements to his preferred candidates, even when those challengers are running to unseat incumbents backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell prefers to back members already in office. “McConnell will always stick up for his incumbents,” one top GOP strategist said in April.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump has been particularly focused on unseating Republican lawmakers who voted in support of an effort to impeach him earlier this year. In connection to his words and actions surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, 10 Republican representatives, including Cheney and Kinzinger, joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump on the charge of “inciting an insurrection.” Trump was acquitted in the Senate, though seven GOP senators voted to convict him.
Trump was previously impeached on two Ukraine-related charges in 2019 before being acquitted in the Senate.
Washington Examiner Videos
Tags: News, Establishment GOP, Never Trump, Illinois, 2022 Elections, Endorsements
Original Author: Carly Roman
Original Location: Madison Cawthorn endorses Adam Kinzinger primary opponent