Jeffrey Delannoy photo
Madison Cawthorn, rolling himself around the Longworth House Office Building, draws attention from around every corner and down every straightaway of the labyrinthine tunnels that underlie Washington D.C.’s Capitol Complex, greeting passersby with their first name.
Hey, Tony, he said to a janitor.
Hi Robin, hope you’re having a good morning, to some congressional staffer with a laminated ID swinging from a lanyard. It had only taken Cawthorn a few weeks in Washington to become a widely-recognized figure, what with the cutting profile and ever-present wheelchair and the events of Jan. 6 still echoing off the tan glazed bricks lining the corridors.
A phone went unanswered and messages unreturned last week at Iowa U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks short-staffed congressional office in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington.
A small fire at an apparent homeless encampment less than a mile away from the US Capitol Building on Monday prompted Capitol Police to put the building on lockdown for over an hour "out of an abundance of caution," a reflection of the heightened state of alarm at the complex.