North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers is the first Republican incumbent to lose a primary this year, the victim of heavy conservative spending against her and a new congressional map.
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In June 2015, the court ruled that the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution permits the state of Arizona to adopt a commission to draw congressional districts. Holding previously represented District 13 but due to redistricting in the state Holding and Ellmers are now campaigning for the same constituents. At least one casualty was assured when Holding made a decision to run in the 2nd District rather than his old district, which shifted significantly after a federal court ruled that a 2011 congressional map had relied too heavily on race.
Ellmers lost in a newly drawn district where it was not clear if she would even come in second place.
Though he frequently rails against Washington, Trump has done little to capitalize on his own popularity to either help his supporters – Ellmers was his first congressional endorsement – or to urge his followers to oust incumbents. While two incumbents vying for one nomination is unusual, Republican Greg Brannon also was on the ballot and garnered nearly 23 percent of the votes.
Registered Republicans will have a choice of voting for Virginia Foxx or Pattie Curran as the GOP candidate for Fifth District congressman in the general election on November 8.
Supreme Court candidates are Michael Morgan, Daniel Robertson, Bob Edmunds and Sabra Faires. “It’s pretty simple. If explaining your votes is negative, I guess people just took it the wrong way”, he said.
“Everything is meant for a reason, so I believe this is the way things were supposed to go today”, Ellmers said outside her home in Dunn.
“People who do vote in this election will be much more knowledgeable than most people”, he said.
Ellmers suffered when Susan B. Anthony List, a group dedicated to electing anti-abortion Republicans to office, endorsed her opponent.
“Yeah, I know her”, she said. Ellmers lost the support of the pro-life movement in her state after backpedaling on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act a year ago. After the votes were tabulated, Edmunds garnered almost half of the ballots, meaning he and runner-up Mike Morgan will head to the general election in November.”It is important to exercise the right to vote regardless of how many people are on the ballot”, she said. Trump recorded a robocall for Ellmers, and she touted it extensively as one could with a few days left in the primary.
With all but a handful of the district’s 158 precincts reporting, Holding held 53 percent of the vote, easily outpacing his competitors with the aid of a big voting block in Wake County, according to unofficial results.
King said Edmunds, who has served on the court since first being elected in 2000, may have a slight advantage, in that those who do show up likely will have done their homework.
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She joined the conservative Americans for Prosperity on the “Hands off my Healthcare” tour in 2009 and 2010 in opposition to ObamaCare, a spokesman for the group told FoxNews.com.
