Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., unveiled a new Republican Party platform designed after former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” that he hopes conservatives around the country will pledge to enact should the GOP retake Congress in the midterm elections.
Cawthorn, 26, revealed his “New Contract with America” legislation to Fox News Digital along with a video trailer that he’ll circulate on social media to rally support for what he calls the “America First” doctrine for the next generation of conservatives.
“I think this is a definitive roadmap … for my generation to reclaim our country,” Cawthorn told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “… I believe that this is the plan the American people can really coalesce around because this is one that puts people first.”
The New Contract for America reads like a conservative wish list, including slashing federal funds, replacing the income tax, abolishing the Department of Education and stating that life begins at conception and therefore affording legal protections to fertilized eggs and fetuses.
Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, was an architect of the 1994 legislative agenda called the Contract with America that detailed actions Republicans would take if they won the majority in Congress. Candidates signed the pledge during former President Bill Clinton‘s first midterm election and the movement was credited with helping Republicans win back both the House and Senate.
Madison Cawthorn’s New Contract With America PDF
Madison-Cawthorn-New-Contract-with-AmericaCawthorn said he talked to Gingrich about his updated “contract” and he hopes the former speaker would endorse his plan. Gingrich was not immediately available for comment.
But in a big departure from the 1994 original, this New Contract with America is authored by the youngest member of Congress, and he’s rolling it out without explicit support from leadership. In a sign of how campaigning has changed, Cawthorn wants to collect endorsements from the public, which he hopes will then compel members of Congress to sign on.