Little did Rep. Martha Roby know that a stand she took against Donald Trump 19 months ago would continue to reverberate into the next election cycle, but it has made her path to reelection in Alabama more difficult, the Washington Examiner reports.
Trump eventually became president after Roby said she would not vote for the man whose infamous "Access Hollywood" tape did little to thwart his election victory. Roby, on the other hand, continues to deal with the backlash in her state, being forced into a runoff election in July.
"Once you're tainted as less than 100 percent pure on the Trump scale, that can be used against you in a Republican primary," GOP pollster John Couvillon told the Examiner. "When you're talking about being a Republican who is not close enough to the president, that is deadly."
Roby secured just 39 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary, well short of the 50 percent needed to stave off a runoff. Her next closest opponent, Bobby Bright, finished second with 28 percent.
Worse, Bright is a former Democratic congressman and disciple of Rep. Nancy Pelosi who got bounced by Roby in the 2010 midterms.
All because Roby had this to say in October 2016:
"It was definitely the reason she had people running against her in a primary," a Republican operative aligned with Roby told the Examiner. "She reacted the way she reacted but has done smart things since then to close the gap. I've talked to Trump people, and she's not one he's going to hold a grudge on."
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