Rep. Ellmers’ communication director takes new job in Washington | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Following U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers’ unsuccessful re-election bid, one of the congresswoman’s top communications staff members will move on to a new job on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Blair Ellis, 25, a University of North Carolina graduate, announced the change Thursday. She’s worked on Ellmers’ communications team since October 2013. Before that, Ellis was an intern and press assistant in the North Carolina state legislature for then-Speaker of the House Thom Tillis – now the state’s junior Republican U.S. senator.

Ellis’ departure from Ellmers’ congressional office comes just six months ahead of Ellmers leaving office herself. The three-term representative from Dunn, N.C., lost to fellow GOP Republican U.S. Rep. George Holding in the 2nd Congressional District primary on June 7.

Ellmers had been endorsed by Donald Trump in the days before the primary and she had previously been the only woman in Congress to support the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

As a result of recent redistricting Holding and Ellmers were pitted against each other in the primary election. Holding won about 53 percent of the vote and Ellmers came in second – just 207 votes ahead of challenger Greg Brannon.

Next week, Ellis will begin her new job as a press secretary and digital media coordinator with the Energy and Commerce Committee – a committee Ellmers has served on since 2013. Press secretaries and communications directors are primary points of contact for reporters covering news in Washington, D.C. They often act as spokespeople for members of Congress.

Ellis holds a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Journalism School and double majored in political science and public relations.

In email to reporters announcing the job change, Ellis wrote of Ellmers: “I could not have asked for a more fun, fierce, or fearless boss to work for or a more talented team to work alongside.”