May 17, 2022

Madison Cawthorn Loses

Cry more…

Saul Loeb/AP

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Cawthorn’s tenure in Congress was as controversial and performative as it was brief. Over the last few months, he has provoked the wrath of the Republican party elite with a series of bizarre statements, including his dubious claim that other lawmakers he admired had invited him to orgies and done cocaine in front of him. He has also found himself embroiled in scandal after scandal: participating in a cryptocurrency scheme, lying or exaggerating about his past, driving with a revoked license, and attempting to bring a loaded gun through airport security—twice.

By the time of his “orgy and cocaine” comment, Cawthorn’s combative and erratic behavior had already alienated him from many North Carolina Republicans. He annoyed them further by unexpectedly announcing that he was going to switch districts, only to then return to his original district after a court ruling gave the new district a Democratic skew. 

All of this led a number of influential Republicans in both North Carolina and DC to back Edwards in what seemed to be a well planned campaign to unseat Cawthorn. Their efforts proved successful Tuesday night, a potential sign that conventional Republicans still have a degree of influence over their base, even at a time when the GOP is dominated by anti-establishment sentiment. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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