Rep. Renee Ellmers became the latest Republican to be ousted for a lack of ideological purity, losing her North Carolina congressional seat on Tuesday despite a last-minute endorsement from presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Ellmers was defeated Tuesday in a Republican primary by Rep. George Holding, who held another district that was redrawn into Ellmers’ district. Physician Greg Bannon, who previously ran for Senate, came in third.
Ellmers was the first person to get a congressional endorsement from Trump, who recorded a robocall for her. Trump called her a “fighter” who can help him defeat the Islamic State.
Ellmers was elected to Congress in 2010 as part of the Tea Party wave, but she has fallen out of favor with prominent conservative groups since then.
The Susan B. Anthony List, a prominent anti-abortion group, actively campaigned against Ellmers during the primary.
The group was upset that Ellmers upended a House vote last year to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Ellmers helped stage a rebellion against the bill, saying it should be softened so that rape victims exempted from the 20-week ban would face fewer obstacles in getting an abortion.
The bill had said that rape victims had to report the crime, which Ellmers objected to. The group eventually supported the revision, but was annoyed that Ellmers objected publicly and at the last minute to the bill, as passage was supposed to coincide with the annual March for Life event.
“At that point there could not have been a more important moment of unity and strength for the movement, when she pulled the rug out from under us,” Susan B. Anthonly List President Marjorie Dannenfelser recently told the Washington Examiner.
SBA wasn’t the only key conservative group to have opposed Ellmers. Club for Growth also pushed to oust her.
“Renee Ellmers first ran as a Tea Party conservative, but has become an establishment liberal in Washington,” David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth Action, said last month.
McIntosh pointed to Ellmers’ votes on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank and for an omnibus spending bill as further evidence that she lacked conservative credentials.
The Conservative Review, created by talk radio host Mark Levin, gives her an “F” liberty score.
“Despite running as a self-proclaimed Tea Party candidate, Ellmers has aligned herself with GOP leadership and the establishment since coming to Washington,” the site said.
