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Cawthorn wins in Polk and North Carolina

POLK COUNTY— Madison Cawthorn won Tuesday’s run-off election for the U.S. House of Representative District 11 seat over Lynda Bennett in both Polk County and the state, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections unofficial results.

Cawthorn (R) will face off against Moe Davis (D) for the seat in November. Mark Meadows (R) holds the seat but did not seek re-election this year.

Statewide, Cawthorn received 30,444 votes compared to Bennett’s 15,806 votes. The margin was Cawthorn’s 65.82 percent compared to Bennett’s 34.18 percent of the votes.

In Polk County, Cawthorn received 786 votes compared to Bennett’s 457 votes, according to unofficial results from the Polk County Board of Elections. Percentage-wise, Polk County voters followed the state, with 63.23 percent of the votes going to Cawthorn and 36.77 percent of the votes going to Bennett.

Cawthorn had the lead after early voting with 278 votes over Bennett’s 176 votes, according to unofficial results.

Polk County’s voter turnout was 10.89 percent. There were 1,248 ballots cast out of a total 11,455 people eligible to vote. The primary run-off was republican, so registered democrats or libertarians, for example, could not vote.

Polk County is currently still part of District 10, but after redistricting, will be a part of most of western North Carolina counties’ District 11.

The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3.