Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) has been charged for the second time with driving with a revoked license, an offense that carries a maximum $200 fine or 20 days in jail.
State highway patrol spokesman First Sgt. Christopher Knox confirmed the incident to The Washington Post.
“On Thursday, March 3, at approximately 10:26 p.m., a member of the State Highway Patrol conducted a traffic stop of a 2019 Toyota for a left-of-center violation on U.S. 74B in Cleveland County,” Knox said in an email. “The driver was identified as David Madison Cawthorn, 26 years old of Hendersonville, N.C.”
During the investigation, “it was determined that the driver’s license was in a state of revocation and he was subsequently charged with driving while license revoked,” Knox said.
Cawthorn also faces two speeding citations — one for driving 89 miles per hour in a 65-mile-per-hour zone Oct. 18, and another for driving 87 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone on Jan. 8, according to the state highway patrol.
Luke Ball, a spokesman for Cawthorn, declined to respond on the record.
Cawthorn was first elected to Congress in 2020 and represents North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. According to the Citizen Times, the 26-year-old congressman was previously charged with driving with a revoked license in 2017; that charge was dismissed.
A first-time conviction of driving with a revoked license in North Carolina can lead to a one-year revocation or suspension in addition to a potential fine, probation or jail time.
Cawthorn was seriously injured in a 2014 accident in which he was a passenger and a friend was driving; the incident left Cawthorn partially paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair. After multiple surgeries, he was able to drive again with the use of a modified car.
Several of Cawthorn’s former classmates have accused him of sexual misconduct after he invited them on “fun drives” during their time at Patrick Henry College. One former classmate told The Post that Cawthorn took her somewhere “very rural,” then drove “violently back to campus” at speeds of 70 or 80 miles per hour down back roads after she rejected his advances. Cawthorn declined an interview request for that Post article.
Michael Kranish contributed to this report.