President Trump’s role in the events of January 6, 2021, could end up blocking his bid to return to the White House in 2024, according to one of his most ardent supporters in Congress. 

Representative Madison Cawthorn made the comment during an interview with Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who is himself the subject of a  congressional inquiry into the riot at the Capitol. 

Mr. Cawthorn told Mr. Bannon: “I don’t think they are just after me — obviously if they are able to keep me off the ballot because of this, Donald Trump will never be able to be president again because he won’t be able to win North Carolina.” 

In tying his electoral future to Mr. Trump’s, Mr. Cawthorn spotlighted the widening stakes in the effort to disqualify congressional candidates on the basis of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which could determine control of the White House and Congress. 

That part of the Constitution, written in the wake of the Civil War and the defeat of the Confederacy, bars from office those who “engage” in an “insurrection” against America. With elections next fall, its application to the current moment is increasingly a question of immediate political relevance.   

Mr. Cawthorn has thus far been the focus of disqualification efforts, which have now moved to federal court, with his attorneys asking a judge to thwart efforts to preclude him from the ballot. North Carolina officials have insisted that they retain the prerogative to decide who appears on the ballot. 

The legal director of Free Speech for People, which is leading the effort against Mr. Cawthorn, has told the Sun that the case for disqualifying the 45th president from running for office again in 2024 is a strong one. 

The outcome of the Cawthorn case will be an indicator of whether this is true.