Former NC County GOP Chair: Renee Ellmers Has Become ‘Mean Girl on Steroids’

A former Harnett County, North Carolina Republican chair said Rep. Renee Ellmers – who lost her primary race Tuesday – has become a “mean girl on steroids,” after the congresswoman remarked to her that she had gained weight.

As Ellmers herself walked from her own car to the polling place, CBS affiliate WNCN heard her say to Maggie Sandrock, “You’re eating a little too much pork barbecue. Whoo!”

“Typical Renee,” Sandrock said. “She has become a mean girl on steroids in my view.”

When Ellmers was asked about her remark to Sandrock, she replied, “She’s gained some weight. Yea. She’s put on a little weight.”

“Are you friends with her?” the reporter asked.

“Yeah, I know her,” Ellmers said. “She’s actually, I think she lives in Lillington, but she’s part of the Republican Party.”

Asked if she was a friend of Sandrock’s, Ellmers responded, “Sure,” but then admitted she didn’t know if Sandrock would describe them as friends.

Sandrock worked on Ellmers’ previous two campaigns but backed primary winner Rep. George Holding this time around.

“This is not personal,” Sandrock said about Ellmers. “I think she’s a lovely woman. She has a great family. She has been a member of this community forever. She’s a nurse. She’s a caregiver.”

“I would consider her a friend, but certainly not a good one,” she added. “Good friends don’t tell you you’re fat or you’re getting fat. They may say, ‘Everything going well Maggie? You look a little stressed out.’ “But they don’t say, ‘Too much pork barbecue, Maggie.’”

Ellmers—who rode into Congress in the Tea Party wave in 2010—has been a major disappointment to the conservative grassroots that supported her back then. She backed President Obama’s executive amnesty and trade policies and sabotaged a late-term abortion bill in 2015 over concerns it would have a negative impact on Republicans with women and millennial voters. Elmers lost her primary race despite being the first member of Congress endorsed by GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump.