Plenty of former House members seek comebacks. In the 2026 election cycle, there are 17, including Cawthorn and Collins. Some do make it back. In the 119th Congress, 15 lawmakers previously were House members.

Yet each of those House incumbents represents the same states as before. The last time a former House member won a comeback bid across state lines was 1968, with the Capitol Hill return of Republican Rep. Ed Foreman. He had previously represented a West Texas district for two years before getting washed out in the 1964 Lyndon Johnson landslide, when the Lone Star State was almost monolithically Democratic. Then, having moved next door to southern New Mexico, Foreman, in 1968, rode incoming President Richard Nixon’s coattails to oust an incumbent Democrat. But Foreman lost in the 1970 midterm elections, along with several other House Republicans. Foreman died in 2022 at age 88.

Several other former House members have subsequently tried running in other states but came up short. Though, as the Trump era of politics has made clear, electoral precedents are true until they’re not. That could make Cawthorn’s brand of populist conservatism a good fit for the 19th Congressional District.

For Cawthorn, the race in Florida’s 19th Congressional District offers a political reset of sorts. Cawthorn proved a political phenom in 2020 when, at age 24, he beat a crowded GOP primary field, including a runoff victory against Trump’s endorsed candidate, for a western North Carolina district. Cawthorn then easily won the general election.

Cawthorn stood out that election cycle not only for his youth but also for his impressive life story, one defined by a near-fatal 2014 car crash at age 18, which left him partially paralyzed. Cawthorn went on to start a real estate investment firm before winning his congressional seat. He joined the House in January 2021, only five months after meeting the constitutional minimum age requirement of 25.

Cawthorn entered the House just ahead of Joe Biden’s presidency. During Cawthorn’s two years in the House, when Democrats held the majority, legislation he sponsored focused on issues such as preventing critical race theory funding, worker safety exemptions, term limits, Capitol security, and veterans’ education.

But Cawthorn faced a tough renomination bid amid a series of unflattering headlines. That included racking up speeding tickets and being stopped with a gun at the Asheville, North Carolina, airport. Cawthorn also angered Republican colleagues by claiming in an interview that Capitol Hill was a den of drug use and scandalous sexual activity.

Cawthorn narrowly lost the primary to now-Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC). When Cawthorn’s House term ended after two years, he moved to southwest Florida.

Cawthorn, in an interview, said a return to Congress would bring a focus on lowering costs for constituents while also supporting the Trump administration in its illegal immigrant deportation efforts.

“People are more concerned about their paychecks” than anything else, Cawthorn said. “A common refrain is, ‘I can afford less even though I’m making more these days.’”

Fighting inflation is top of mind, Cawthorn said, adding that whoever Trump picks to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell should sharply cut interest rates.

“The lower the better,” Cawthorn said, leaning into his real estate background in his efforts to boost home ownership. Cawthorn also backs Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order aimed at banning institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

“Having an entire generation of renters” is a big problem, Cawthorn said. “Homes are made for families. They’re not made for investors.”

More broadly, Cawthorn wants to enact a federal deregulation agenda. He cited out-of-control Environmental Protection Agency regulations, with environmental regulators hitting particularly hard on lumber and other home-building parts.

“We have an overblown and out-of-control federal government,” Cawthorn said.

Cawthorn’s legislative to-do list further includes continuing to push House legislation sponsored by Donalds, the Florida gubernatorial candidate, aimed at providing tax relief for residents who pay flood insurance premiums through the National Flood Insurance Program or with private insurance. The House bill is a companion to Senate legislation backed by Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ashley Moody (R-FL), which is designed to ease the financial toll stemming from flood insurance costs that have been increasing in recent years.

“Flood insurance is so high in the state of Florida,” Cawthorn said of complaints he’s heard from residents in the state’s southwest region. “Even if they can afford a home, flood insurance prices them out of the market.”

Cawthorn got an early boost when, on Jan. 16, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) endorsed him for the Republican nomination. The pair were House colleagues, and Mullin is tight with Trump and a leading congressional voice backing the administration.