Cecil Bothwell (born 16 October 1950) is an American politician, writer, artist, musician and builder. Bothwell was elected to the Asheville, North Carolina city council in 2009 and reelected in 2013, but lost in the 2017 primary, coming in 7th out of 12 candidates. In 2011, Bothwell announced he would challenge U.S. Representative Heath Shuler in the Democratic primary for North Carolina's 11th congressional district in the 2012 U.S. House of Representatives election. On May 8, 2012, he lost the Democratic primary to Hayden Rogers by a margin of 55–30 percent.