“They are actually very close,” Cawthorn said. “Now, what’s going on in North Carolina is that the State Board of Elections, a panel of five people, is asserting that they have the ability to bar 740,000-plus Americans in my district from being able to elect me.”

The challenge, filed last month with the North Carolina State Board of Elections by the Free Speech for People group, cites Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that no representative of Congress “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” as the basis for Cawthorn’s disqualification for office.

Cawthorn filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month against members of the NCSBE, classifying the challenge to his candidacy as “unconstitutional.” In the meantime, the district that Cawthorn is running to represent next year is still in the process of being finalized. Earlier this month, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down Republican-drawn redistricting maps, citing “partisan gerrymandering.”

Though Cawthorn currently represents North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, the lawmaker announced last year his intentions to run for the newly redrawn 13th District.

“This is about the future of our very nation. If they’re able to set this precedent in North Carolina, they will be able to keep anybody who had valid and legitimate concerns about what happened in the 2020 election from being able to ever hold office and thus ending the America First movement,” Cawthorn argued.

The lawyers representing the group of North Carolina voters say they have “reasonable suspicion” that Cawthorn helped plan either the Capitol riot, which disrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, or the “pre-attack demonstration and/or march on the Capitol with the advance knowledge that it was substantially likely to lead to the attack, and otherwise voluntarily aided the insurrection.”

The challenge argues that North Carolina law puts the burden of proof on Cawthorn to show that he is qualified to run for office.

Cawthorn spoke at a rally on the Ellipse before the Capitol riot, where former President Donald Trump also addressed the crowd, pushing claims of election fraud. He later objected to the Electoral College certification of Biden’s win. The challenge also cites a speech Cawthorn gave in a December 2020 event at Turning Point USA, where he encouraged his supporters to “threaten” members of Congress “lightly” over election integrity.

While the challenge is playing out, Cawthorn, 26, is rolling out a new piece of legislation called the New Contract with America. Cawthorn told Fox News that the legislation was designed to be the Republican Party’s platform, modeled after former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America.

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The legislation lists 10 pillars that “are the most essential and impactful policy issues” to the public, including government spending, the economy, government reform, healthcare, education, and more. Fifty-two policy changes are proposed to address the pillars, including cutting government spending by one-third by 2031.

As the current youngest member of Congress, Cawthorn said in a promo video that his legislation is a road map “for my generation to reclaim our country.”