Former NC candidate Bennett, who ran against Cawthorn, pleads guilty to campaign charge
The candidate who former Rep. Mark Meadows handpicked to replace him in Congress, after he became former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to a campaign finance charge.
Lynda Bennett, 65, of Maggie Valley, appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C., accused of knowingly taking $25,000 from a relative and doing so in another person’s name.
Federal authorities said Bennett borrowed $25,000 from a family member, saying she needed the money for personal expenses because she had to spend so much on her own campaign, then deposited the money into her personal account and loaned a total of $80,000, including the $25,000, to her campaign. She did not report that it was a third-party contribution, and the amount far exceeded the $2,800-per-election limit set by federal law and just crossed the threshold to make it a felony charge.
Bennett pleaded guilty to accepting contributions in the name of another person.
The FBI Field Office in Washington, D.C., investigated the case.
Bennett could have faced six months to a year in prison, but the state and her attorney are asking for her to be sentenced only to probation. District Judge Christopher Cooper said he has not made a decision. Sentencing is set for June 20.
Kearns Davis, an attorney with Brooks Pierce, represented Bennett.
“Lynda is grateful for the support of her family and friends, and glad to move on to the next step in the process,” Davis said Wednesday following the hearing.
The campaign finance violation happened in December 2019, when Bennett ran to represent North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District against former Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
Bennett obtained the most votes in the initial Republican primary election, but Cawthorn, who was 25 at the time, forced her into a runoff. He won with 65.8% of the votes.
After winning the general election, Cawthorn quickly became a nuisance for his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill, finding himself in numerous controversies throughout his tenure from calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a thug” to publicly accusing his colleagues of snorting cocaine and participating in “orgies.”
Cawthorn lost his reelection in 2022 to Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards.
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Former NC candidate Bennett, who ran against Cawthorn, pleads guilty to campaign charge."
