House Television via AP
- Rep. Madison Cawthorn said he missed votes to fulfill his "service as a husband" on his honeymoon.
- An analysis from Quorum showed Cawthorn has missed the most votes of any freshman lawmaker.
- Cawthorn told Real America's Voice News that all the votes he missed were on "Democrat garbage."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn said his "service as a husband" kept him from over a dozen congressional votes in April, and described all the missed votes as "Democrat garbage" during an interview on the conservative program, Real America's Voice News.
Data collected by legislative analysis firm Quorum and reported on by Axios found that Cawthorn has missed the highest percentage of votes – 16.2% – of any freshman House member during the 117th Congress. The top five freshmen to miss the most votes are all Republicans.
"To that, I really laugh. It shows how the Democrats feel about the nuclear family in America right now. I was doing the only thing that I find more important than my service in Congress, and that's my service as a husband," Cawthorn told host David Brody when asked about Axios' reporting on his missed votes.
Cawthorn explained that "they had the votes pile up" the week he was away for his honeymoon after marrying his wife Cristina Bayardelle in his home state of North Carolina in early April, resulting in him missing out on 15 votes.
"Every single vote that came up was some Democrat garbage, so I was happy to be able to not actually have to vote on those," Cawthorn said. "They're eliminating our voices, they're not allowing us to debate on the House floor, and I'm telling you, if I had to choose between voting with Nancy Pelosi or spending time with my beautiful wife, I'll choose Cristina every time."
Cawthorn also did not designate an another lawmaker to enter votes on his behalf while he was on his honeymoon. Under special COVID-19 procedures, House members can vote by proxy via a colleague
Cawthorn's spokesperson Micah Bock previously told Axios that the congressman "married the love of his life on April 3rd of 2021. Due to his honeymoon, he missed House votes occurring between April 13th and April 16th."
Cawthorn, 25, was elected to Congress from North Carolina's 11th District in 2020 to replace Mark Meadows, who left Congress to serve as former President Donald Trump's chief of staff. As the youngest person elected to Congress in two centuries, Cawthorn has positioned himself as a voice for young conservatives.
Early in his tenure in Congress, Cawthorn wrote in an email to his colleagues that he built his "staff around comms rather than legislation," TIME Magazine reported in January.