Rep. Renee Ellmers, who is facing her second primary challenge in her North Carolina congressional seat, says she voted for Donald Trump in her state’s primary Tuesday.
Voters are excited about the primary, she claimed, adding, “I think they have a lot to say about the direction they want the country to go in. I think they want someone to go to Washington and shake things up,” according to The News & Observer.
Ellmers is running for re-election against primary challenger state Rep. George Holding, in the Second Congressional District, whose boundaries were changed dramatically in February.
Ellmers was a member of the 2010 Tea Party wave of Republicans who were going to “shake things up,” but she has been widely criticized for consistently voting with Washington “establishment” Republicans.
In January of 2015, Ellmers led a group of House Republicans in a maneuver that torpedoed the late-term abortion Pain-Capable bill on the eve of the March for Life. She then took to her blog to defend herself against an angry pro-life base of the GOP, referring to the grassroots as “abhorrent” and “childish” in response to their criticism of her.
Though Ellmers voted for the same bill previously, she told the National Journal that she urged House leadership to pull it because of her concern that the GOP could lose the votes of millennials over a pro-life bill.
“I have urged leadership to reconsider bringing it up next week. … We got into trouble last year, and I think we need to be careful again; we need to be smart about how we’re moving forward,” Ellmers said at the time. “The first vote we take, or the second vote, or the fifth vote, shouldn’t be on an issue where we know that millennials—social issues just aren’t as important [to them].”
The conservative base of the GOP then called for Ellmers to be subjected to a strong primary challenge this year.
“Renée Ellmers has betrayed the conservatives of the Second District by repeatedly voting to increase federal spending, increase the debt ceiling, and even voting to fund President Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty,” one of Ellmers’ primary challengers – Frank Roche – observed to Breitbart News.
“Washington is broken and the people of the Second District want Bold Conservative Leadership to stand up to the big government progressives in both parties, not another go along to get along politician like Representative Ellmers,” he said.
A panel of federal judges has ruled that lawmakers must redraw two of the state’s districts considered to be racially gerrymandered. Subsequently, all districts were redrawn, and Holding announced he would challenge Ellmers in the 2nd District.
The congresswoman visited primary polling places Tuesday, even though North Carolina’s congressional primaries are scheduled for June 7.
“I’m not taking anything for granted,” Ellmers said. “I want to make sure that the people of District 2 know how important I think this primary is on so many different levels, and I want to make sure that I’m visible and showing that I’m in the district.”
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