North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, long known for its scenic mountains and back-to-the-land vibes, now also has the distinction of having elected three straight ethically challenged Republican congressmen. 

Over roughly the past 14 years, residents in the western district of the state have consecutively elected to the seat Republicans Mark Meadows, Madison Cawthorn and Chuck Edwards – and each of them has been the subject of probes by the House Committee on Ethics.

The recent allegations against Edwards were disconcerting – so much so that the committee recommended last week that he be censured, which was followed by the President Trump-backed nominee dropping his 2026 reelection bid. 

Committee members in their report found numerous examples of actions they considered improper including Edwards giving two young female aides lavish and recurrent gifts, making comments about their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations and sending notes regarding his affection.

The 65-year-old denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance. But the committee considered his actions "beyond inappropriate." And GOP Sen. Ted Budd had a similar response. His congressional office said the senator found the committee's report "deeply concerning."

GOP district officials have since replaced Edwards with state lawmaker Jennifer Balkcom as their nominee.

“Edwards was elected on the promise of being the anti-Madison Cawthorn,” Christopher Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, told Just the News on Wednesday. "I think that's one reason why this ethics investigation was so alarming.” 

In a political daisy chain of events, Edwards defeated Cawthorn in the 2022 primary elections. Cawthorn replaced Meadows, who was elected in 2012, sanctioned three years later by the House Ethics Committee for improperly using taxpayer funds to continue paying a former chief of staff who faced allegations of sexually harassing multiple female staffers. He resigned from Congress in March 2020 to become White House chief of staff during President Donald Trump's first term. 

The 11th District seat remained vacant until Cawthorn was sworn into office in January 2021.

Upon winning the GOP primary for the open seat against a Trump-backed candidate, then the general election, the 25-year-old Cawthorn became the youngest member of Congress and the youngest Republican elected to the House in modern history. 

However, he quickly found himself in trouble that escalated over time – from missing votes to being detained for trying to carry a loaded gun through a North Carolina airport to being charged twice for driving with a revoked license. 

Cawthorn making unsubstantiated claims on a 2021 podcast that people in Washington had invited him to participate in orgies and used cocaine in front of him, appeared to be the last straw for members of his party who then reportedly began to look for a primary challenger, which eventually became Edwards.

“He was embroiled in scandals,” Cooper said.

Cawthorn also faced allegations of sexual misconduct. Four women claimed during his 2022 reelection campaign that while briefly at Patrick Henry College, a small Christian institution in northern Virginia, he had been aggressive, misogynistic or predatory toward them. 

Cawthorn denied wrongdoing and no charges were brought. But the allegations landed weeks before his primary against Edwards, which he lost by just 1.5 points. Edwards went on to win the seat in November 2022.

The House Ethics Committee didn't address the women's allegations, but the committee ultimately admonished him for improperly promoting an anti-Joe Biden cryptocurrency in which he held an undisclosed stake.

Critics pointed to Cawthorn's "hubris," having surrounded himself with inexperienced staffers and his youth – with him sharply defending the final point. 

“When they say, you know, you need to wait your turn, or wait in line, pay your dues. I often times will look around the room and say, ‘Who the hell are we in line behind,’ because whoever we’re in line behind is not doing a very good job,” he told the Daily Caller in 2021.

Cooper thinks the cumulative effect of such allegations, including recent ones against Ohio GOP Rep. Max Miller, former Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner and former California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, "increases a sense from the people that politicians are not out for people like us – that they are out for their own benefit."

Balkcom, a state House member, will face Democrat Jamie Ager, a farmer and first-time candidate, in the November general election.

Cooper says Balkcom is "definitely a credible candidate by any reasonable metric" and that as a second-term state General Assembly member, she is “a serious legislator” with “no known scandals.” 

She's also the first woman the state GOP has nominated for the seat.

On paper, the district remains Republican-favored – the Cook Partisan Voter Index rates it R+5, and Democrats haven't held the seat since 2013.

But a Democrat winning in November now appears at least possible – considering voters there have cycled through three Republican congressmen whose tenures were shadowed by scandal, in a region still rebuilding from Hurricane Helene, the costliest natural disaster in state history.

Cooper also points out that Balkcom will have very little time to mount a full campaign. 

In addition, Cooper says, Ager has been “a prodigious fundraiser who hasn't made many, if any, mistakes on the campaign trail," and his profile as a family man and farmer will play well in what he called a "pinkish district" — especially in what's shaping up to be "a very good year for Democrats, of course, nationally."

"It is a district that, in a normal year under normal circumstances, should be one that's fairly safely Republican," he said. "The question is, how unusual is this year in these circumstances?"

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.