Madison Cawthorn, once a rising star in the Republican Party and one of the youngest people ever elected to the U.S. House, is staging a political comeback—this time, not in his native North Carolina, but in the sun-soaked districts of southwest Florida. On October 1, 2025, the 30-year-old announced his bid to represent Florida’s 19th Congressional District, a seat soon to be vacated by Rep. Byron Donalds, who is running for governor in 2026, according to reporting from multiple outlets including USA TODAY and the Hendersonville Times-News.
Cawthorn’s move to Florida and his new campaign are the latest chapters in a political career defined as much by controversy as by ambition. After losing his North Carolina seat in the 2022 GOP primary, the former congressman relocated to Cape Coral, Florida, purchasing a $1.1 million home in January 2023, as detailed by the Asheville Citizen-Times. His campaign video for the Fort Myers-based district leans heavily into his adopted Floridian identity, calling the state “the heart of the MAGA movement.”
“I’m running for Congress to stand with President Trump, defend our conservative values and fight to stop the radical left every single time,” Cawthorn declared in his campaign launch, as reported by NBC News. The seat he seeks is reliably Republican, but the field is crowded and competitive. Notably, it includes former Rep. Chris Collins of New York, who resigned in 2019 amid an insider trading scandal and was later pardoned by Trump, as well as businessman Jim Oberweis, retired Marine Mike Pedersen, Lee County commissioner Cecil Pendergrass, Democrat Howard Sapp, and Sun Broadcasting president Jim Schwartzel, according to the Cape Coral News-Press.
Cawthorn’s decision to run again came, he says, after a moment of tragedy. In an Instagram post, he cited the assassination of Charlie Kirk as the catalyst for his return to politics. “Once Charlie was assassinated this became no decision at all. There is only one course of action for those of us who want to live in a free, prosperous, and safe land to do: Be extremely shrewd, fearless in the face of backlash and resistance, and to stand up and fight for our country. The left here and abroad knew they could never beat Charlie in a debate so they shot him. Well in his place 10,000 more will rise. This is what I am capable of doing, I hope you have the courage to do what you’re capable of doing. Omnia in Christo facienda,” Cawthorn wrote, as quoted by the Hendersonville Times-News.
But for all the talk of courage and comeback, Cawthorn’s tenure in public life has been shadowed by a string of legal and personal controversies. His single term in Congress, which began with a surprise victory over a Trump-endorsed rival in 2020, quickly drew national attention—not just for his youth, but for his conduct both inside and outside the Capitol.
While still in office, Cawthorn made headlines by claiming on the Warrior Poet Society podcast to have witnessed lawmakers using cocaine and to have been invited to orgies by colleagues. “Then you realize they’re asking you to come to an orgy,” he said, according to USA TODAY. Afterward, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stated that Cawthorn admitted the comments were exaggerated, telling reporters, “This is unacceptable. There is no evidence to this.”
Other controversies have been more concrete. Cawthorn was cited for carrying firearms through airport security on two separate occasions—once at Asheville Regional Airport in 2021, where he carried an unloaded pistol and loaded magazine in his bag, and again at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, where he was cited for possession of a dangerous weapon on city property, a Class 3 misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in one case and was not charged in the other, as reported by the Asheville Citizen-Times.
His driving record has also been checkered. Cawthorn was charged with driving with a revoked license in both 2017 and 2022. In 2024, he rear-ended a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser on Interstate 75 near Mile Marker 60 in Collier County, reportedly failing to move over for a stopped vehicle. The trooper sustained minor injuries, and Cawthorn was cited for violating Florida’s Move Over Law. Court records show he was convicted of the offense and ordered to complete a 12-hour defensive driving course by July 10, 2024. Most recently, on September 10, 2025, Cawthorn was arrested in Lee County on a bench warrant for failing to appear at a hearing related to an August 19 citation for driving without a valid license. He was released on a $2,000 bond, with his campaign team describing the incident as a scheduling “misunderstanding.”
Cawthorn’s personal life has also drawn scrutiny. He was married to Cristina Bayardelle, an anesthesiologist assistant and CrossFit athlete, on December 29, 2020. The couple divorced less than a year later, citing the “hectic and difficult” lifestyle of public office. Bayardelle told the Daily Mail, “Madison is amazing – we’ve had an incredible journey together. Our marriage, like every marriage, has had its difficulties. The lifestyle shift into public life has been strenuous, and many aspects of the transition have been unexpected.”
Allegations of sexual misconduct have followed Cawthorn since his college days. Multiple women from Patrick Henry College, where he attended for one semester in 2016, accused him of making sexually suggestive comments and sometimes touching them inappropriately. Cawthorn has denied being forceful, with a spokesperson stating, “Madison has no recollection of the anonymous accusation and denies being forceful in the other two circumstances,” as reported by the Daily Caller.
Cawthorn’s early life was marked by tragedy and resilience. In 2014, at age 18, he was involved in a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. “Cawthorn’s spine was crushed,” the Hendersonville Times-News reported. “He broke his T12 vertebra, lost a kidney, broke his pelvis in two places, severely burned his left ankle, crushed his right, and his insides were pushed through his diaphragm into his lungs, collapsing both of them.” He has since used a wheelchair, an aspect of his life he has referenced both personally and politically.
Despite the controversies, Cawthorn has maintained a loyal following among some conservative voters and continues to style himself as an “underestimated fighter” committed to the “America First” agenda. His campaign in Florida emphasizes fighting “woke ideology” and supporting Donald Trump, echoing themes that have resonated with the GOP base nationwide.
Yet, the question remains: will Florida voters embrace Cawthorn’s brand of combative conservatism, or will his history of “foolish mistakes,” as Trump once put it, prove too much for even the reliably red 19th District? As the crowded field takes shape and the campaign heats up, all eyes will be on southwest Florida to see if Madison Cawthorn can indeed stage the comeback he so boldly promises.