The Daily Record
Ellmers Upset By Holding
By TOM WOERNER
Of The Record Staff
Harnett County will have a change of Congressional representation after primary elections.
U.S. Renee Ellmers of Dunn lost to Rep. George Holding by a margin of 53 percent to 23 percent in Tuesday’s special-called primary race. Cary obstetrician Dr. Greg Brannon finished in third place, gaining 22 percent of the vote.
Rep. Ellmers was able to win the vote in her home county with more than 40 percent of the vote, but could not carry the momentum into the remainder of the district.
Rep. Holding now readies for a General Election battle with Tuesday’s Democratic winner, John McNeill, who won with nearly 50 percent of the vote in the Democratic race featuring five candidates. Jane Watson was the second-place finisher in the Democratic race. There will be no run-off.
“It has been both an honor and a privilege to serve as Representative of the Second District for the last six years,” Rep. Ellmers said in a written statement. “Long ago, I learned that people don’t care how much (you) know until they know how much you care, and this adage has guided me in Congress as I have sought to care for the concerns of the Second District first and foremost.”
Rep. Holding’s win comes after what became a hard-fought campaign between the pair of incumbents.
Rep. Holding, who currently holds the District 13th seat in the House, made the decision to challenge Rep. Ellmers for the Second District seat when part of his old district was drawn into the new Second District by a legislative redistricting committee. Renee See Election, Page 3
Holding Election
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The committee’s original maps were changed because a court ruled that previous maps were not racially balanced.
Rep. Holding was elected in November 2012 two years after Rep. Ellmers first went to Washington, D.C. Prior to serving in Congress, he worked for the U.S. attorney’s office. His family are the original founders of North Carolina’s First Citizens Bank.
Rep. Ellmers, a registered nurse and wife of a surgeon, won her seat in one of the closest races in recent memory in 2010, narrowly edging Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge.
She won the race, only declared official after a recount of votes, largely based on a campaign against the Affordable Healthcare Act, better known as Obamacare, which is President Obama’s signature health care legislation which former Rep. Etheridge supported.
Tuesday's primary race took an ugly turn in the last hours after Rep. Ellmers told former Harnett County Republican Party Chair- man Maggie Sandrock that she “had gained a lot of weight” and “eaten too much pork barbecue.”
Mrs. Sandrock, a former supporter of Rep. Ellmers, later told a Raleigh television crew that Rep. Ellmers was a “mean girl on steroids.”
The incident happened during while both women were campaigning at the Wayne Avenue Elementary polling place. Mrs. Sandrock avidly supported Mr. Holding. She also supported Moore County’s Jim Duncan who initially entered the race to replace Rep. Ellmers before dropping out of the race.
Dr. Brannon was seeking election to the U.S. House after two failed previous attempts to gain the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.
In the other contested race, which appeared on all ballots, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Robert Edmunds was the top vote-getter in the race to maintain his seat. He will face Michael R. (Mike) Morgan the second votegetter in the General Election. Daniel Robertson and Sabra Jean Fairese, were also on the ballot.
