Ellmers

People have short memories. The very first GOP incumbent running for reelection endorsed by Trump was Renee Ellmers in North Carolina. Aside from doing his carnival barker routine on Twitter, Trump recorded a robocall for her, which went out to every Republican voter in NC-02.

The first Republican candidate that Trump really got behind in a big way-- an actual test of his coattails vs his toxicity-- was Renee Ellmers in North Carolina's second congressional district. Ellmers was the first woman in Congress to back Trump and he reciprocated with an ad when she was challenged in a primary by George Holding and Greg Brannon.

During the campaign Trump fared poorly when he tried interfering with Republican primaries. His crackpot candidates all lost. He endorsed and cut radio spots for Renee Ellmers (R-NC), the first woman in Congress to endorse him. Despite his help-- possibly because of it-- she barely managed to come in second in her three-way primary.

This has been a really bad year for Renee Ellmers. The North Carolina Republican was the first woman in Congress to endorse the misogynistic Trump. And he appreciated it-- although the folks in the 2nd congressional district, most of whom had voted for Cruz in the primary, didn't like he jumping on the Trump bandwagon. She then got locked into a horrific three-way primary of her own, the first in which Trump endorsed a candidate; and he even recorded an ad for her. It backfired badly.

Renee Ellmers (R-NC) is the only Republican member of Congress who Trump cut an ad for. It didn't help Ellmers win her primary. In fact, it probably hurt her She barely managed to come in second in a 3 way primary race and will be hoping for some kind of a job-- any kind of a job-- from Trump after January. These were the results:

We've been focused on today's congressional primaries in races in California, New Jersey and Iowa, where Blue America is backing 9 candidates in competitive races: Lou Vince, Nanette Barragan, Bao Nguyen, Bill Ostrander, Alex Law, Jim Keady and Pat Murphy. But there are also primaries for House seats in South Dakota New Mexico, Montana and North Carolina. Many of the races in these states are not competitive.

This morning an inexperienced campaign manager called and asked me for some advise. She talked-- mostly complaining and gossiping and babbling about herself-- for over an hour and I doubt she listened to a word I said. But what I told her her under-funded, unknown candidate must do is tie their opponent to Trump. "Every time someone thinks about him, Trump should come into their consciousness.

This morning NBC released a new poll showing that a significant majority of registered Republican voters trust Trump more than Ryan to lead their party-- 58-39%.

Renee Ellmers is probably wishing all she had to face this election cycle was last cycle's opponent, gay singling star and American Idol fave, Clay Aiken. She beat him 122,128 (59%) to 85,479 (41%). After the district was redrawn by court order it's still safely Republican but now she's in a battle royale with fellow Republicans George Holding (who was redistricted out of a safe seat) and big name teabagger Greg Brannon who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and has major name recognition. The congressional primary was postponed until June 7 because of the new boundaries.

Sensibly, the New York Times is now calling for Congress to shut down the Benghazi Committee, as have many Members of Congress, including Rules Committee ranking member Louise Slaughter. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando went one step further and filed an ethics complaint today against Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Benghazi Committee chairman Trey Gowdy.