Businessman Jim Schwartzel captured the Republican nomination in Florida’s 19th Congressional District on Tuesday, emerging from a packed GOP primary to succeed Byron Donalds and defeating a field that included two former members of Congress with legal controversies in their past.
Schwartzel prevailed without an endorsement from Donald Trump, instead relying on support from influential House Republicans, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.
Catalina Lauf, who received a late nod from Trump, failed to overtake him amid scrutiny of her earlier political ties to Illinois. Former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, meanwhile, struggled badly and finished in fourth place.
Cawthorn managed only a single-digit share of the vote in the Southwest Florida district, which includes Fort Myers, Naples and surrounding communities.
Former New York Rep. Chris Collins also landed far behind the leading contenders.
For Cawthorn, the race marked an effort to revive his political career after a turbulent one-term stint in Washington.
The North Carolina Republican first drew national attention in 2020, when he won election at age 25 and became the youngest member of Congress at the time.
His time on Capitol Hill, however, was quickly overshadowed by a steady stream of controversies.
In July, former Representative Madison Cawthorn was being described as one of the leading candidates in the crowded Republican field in terms of fundraising, endorsements and local media attention
Cawthorn’s nude video recording of him ‘being crass with a friend’
Republican 19th Congressional District candidate, former New York Representative Chris Collins, was pardoned by President Trump in 2020, after pleading guilty to insider trading
There were the driving violations, his claims that members of Congress had invited him to orgies and that he had witnessed lawmakers using drugs, followed by photographs of him partying in women’s lingerie and a leaked video showing him naked in bed with another man.
The scandal surrounding the then-congressman erupted in March 2022, after he claimed in a podcast interview that he had been invited to a Washington ‘orgy’ and had witnessed people he regarded as political leaders using cocaine.
Within days, House Republican leaders confronted him, with Kevin McCarthy accusing Cawthorn of exaggerating his claims and saying he had lost his trust.
The controversy intensified when photographs surfaced showing Cawthorn wearing women’s lingerie at a party; he said the images were from a game played on a cruise before he entered Congress.
Weeks later, a leaked nude video showing Cawthorn in bed with another man circulated online. Cawthorn acknowledged the video’s authenticity, describing the encounter as an old, joking moment with a friend.
Then came multiple gun incidents.
In February 2021, TSA officials found a firearm in Cawthorn’s carry-on luggage at Asheville Regional Airport. He was not charged.
In April 2022, it happened again. TSA found a loaded handgun in his carry-on at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Cawthorn was cited for possessing a dangerous weapon on city property and eventually pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor. He was fined $250 and did not serve jail time over the incident.
The whole mess seriously damaged Cawthorn’s reputation and he lost the 2022 Republican primary to Chuck Edwards, effectively ending his time in Congress.
Edwards is now under an ethics investigation and won’t seek reelection.
Then there was the House Ethics Committee investigation six days after his primary loss.
The panel examined several matters, including Cawthorn’s relationship with a congressional staffer and his promotion of cryptocurrency.
The committee did not substantiate the allegation involving an improper relationship with the staffer. But its cryptocurrency investigation was more damaging.
The committee found that Cawthorn had promoted LGB Coin while holding a financial interest in it and had failed to make required financial disclosures. It ordered him to repay more than $14,000.
By the time Cawthorn entered the Florida race, he was attempting to return to Congress after losing his North Carolina seat, with airport gun incidents, an ethics investigation and a long trail of controversies behind him.
Cawthorn was not without Republican support in his bid for a political comeback.
He garnered the endorsement of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Johnny Fratto, who was running in the same race, dropping out in February, throwing his support behind Cawthorn.
He also attracted backing from conservative donors and activists, including prominent influencer Robby Starbuck, who helped raise money for his campaign.
By July, Cawthorn was being described as one of the leading candidates in the crowded Republican field in terms of fundraising, endorsements and local media attention.
Schwartzel, who boasted local roots in the districts, had put at least $1 million of his own money into the campaign and received support from PACs tied to iHeartMedia and Salem Media.
The Florida businessman owns 92.5 FOX News Radio and Gulfshore Life Media, which publishes several Southwest Florida outlets.
And then there’s Chris Collins, who brought a different kind of baggage.
The former New York congressman pleaded guilty to insider trading after prosecutors accused him of passing confidential information about an Australian biotechnology company to his son, who then traded on it.
Collins was sentenced in January 2020 to 26 months in federal prison.
He served part of that sentence at a federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, before Trump pardoned him in December 2020.
Collins later moved to Florida and sought a return to Congress in the 19th District.
The second pardoned candidate was John Strand, a former actor and underwear and romance-novel-cover model turned conservative activist who was convicted over his participation in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Strand was sentenced to 32 months over his January 6 conduct but served about a year in federal prison before being released in July 2024. Trump later pardoned him in January 2025.
