{"id":77581,"date":"2026-08-18T19:54:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T00:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/18\/trumps-support-doesnt-save-scandal-plagued-lawmaker-in-primary\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T19:54:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T00:54:53","slug":"trumps-support-doesnt-save-scandal-plagued-lawmaker-in-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/18\/trumps-support-doesnt-save-scandal-plagued-lawmaker-in-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s support doesn’t save scandal-plagued lawmaker in primary"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump’s<\/a> endorsement was not enough to save one scandal-plagued Florida congressman Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., lost his bid for a third term representing the Sunshine State’s 7th Congressional District<\/a> as a House Ethics Committee investigation and alleged federal probe weighed down his candidacy.<\/p>\n

The winner in the race was Ryan Elijah, a former Orlando-area news anchor for FOX 35 and a one-time NFL sideline reporter.<\/p>\n

WATCH: CORY MILLS BLASTS DOJ PROBE AS \u2018POLITICAL OP’ AHEAD OF FLORIDA PRIMARY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Elijah lives in Seminole County with his wife, where the pair raised their two sons, according to his campaign website.<\/p>\n

The win is undoubtedly an upset victory against Mills, who held a sizable lead in multiple polls leading up to primary night and earned the most important and coveted endorsement in GOP politics.<\/p>\n

But the effort to oust Mills from Congress<\/a> has lasted months and was ultimately successful.<\/p>\n

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., led a failed bipartisan effort to censure Mills and threatened to push for his expulsion, though she later backed off the latter measure. She also endorsed Elijah’s bid against the Florida lawmaker.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Reps. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., announced they were also endorsing Elijah over Mills<\/a> in a race for the seat in their home state.<\/p>\n

Mills, a military veteran, referenced his Trump endorsement several times on the campaign trail as he downplayed scandals plaguing his bid to keep his job.<\/p>\n

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER WELCOMES HOUSE ETHICS PROBE INTO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mills is the latest in a string of House Republicans<\/a> to fall amid scandals in recent months.<\/p>\n

Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., dropped his re-election bid in the wake of an explosive House Ethics Committee report that accused him of harassing two young female staffers.<\/p>\n

House Democrats also targeted Mills as a potential vulnerability for the GOP in the 2026 midterms. It’s not clear if they will put the same focus on Elijah now that he ousted the embattled congressman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump’s endorsement was not enough to save one scandal-plagued Florida congressman Tuesday night. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., lost his bid for a third term representing the Sunshine State’s 7th Congressional District as a House Ethics Committee investigation and alleged federal probe weighed down his candidacy. The winner in the race was Ryan Elijah, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}