Reporter identifies the 'unforgiveable sin' that may wreck Madison Cawthorn's political career

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) appears to be in trouble -- and, as Daily Beast congressional reporter Sam Brodey writes, it's not because of his many controversial statements.

The big problem for Cawthorn, Brodey argues, is that he tried to switch to a more conservative district, only to be " was forced to return to them, hat in hand" when a court struck down a proposed North Carolina congressional map.

This, in Brodey's telling, is an "unforgiveable sin" that may doom Cawthorn's young political career.

Now Cawthorn's Republican rivals are pouncing on a narrative that he never really wanted to represent the people who elected him less than two years ago.

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Republican Michele Woodhouse, who has emerged as the main rival to Cawthorn's nomination, tells Brodey that she has been bombarded with support from people who want to see Cawthorn get the boot.

“When he decided to come back in, my phone blew up with calls—from within the district, across North Carolina, elected officials from D.C.—saying, ‘You have to stay in the race,’” Woodhouse said.

Woodhouse also said that voters in the district were tired of having a congressman who is best known for basking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "thug."

“The sparkle and buzz around him here—locally, that penny is no longer shiny,” she said. “It might shine for him in other places, it doesn't shine for him here.”