Congresswoman Ellmers Biography

Congresswoman Renee Ellmers was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November of 2010 and is currently serving her first term representing the second district of North Carolina.

For more than twenty-one years before being elected to Congress, Mrs. Ellmers served as a registered nurse, focusing on surgical care as Clinical Director of the Trinity Wound Care Center and later helping to manage the family's small medical practice with her husband Dr. Brent Ellmers, a licensed surgeon.

Congresswoman Ellmers never saw herself as a politician, nor dreamed that she would be elected to federal office, but felt the call to action as she saw her industry and life's work coming under attack. In 2009, she and her husband attended a town hall meeting on President Obama’s health care plan and came away distraught over the government's impending takeover of patients' rights and punishment of small businesses.

Since being elected to Congress in 2010, Ellmers has been appointed to the House Committees on Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and Small Business, where she chairs the Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology. She has used these positions to be a powerful voice in her freshman class, holding firm on the principles of cutting wasteful spending, rolling back harmful government regulations, and giving small businesses and entrepreneurs the ability to succeed and prosper.

Before her election to Congress, Ellmers had been active in community affairs, having served as Vice President of Community Development for the Dunn Chamber of Commerce and as President-Elect of the Chamber. She has also served on the Dunn Planning Board, the board of the Betsy Johnson Hospital Foundation and the Harnett County Nursing Home Committee.

Originally born and raised in Michigan, Congresswoman Ellmers is a graduate of Oakland University where she received her degree in nursing. Mrs. Ellmers and her husband Brent moved to North Carolina following the birth of their son Ben and have resided in Harnett County ever since.