Incumbent Republican Utah Senator Robert Bennett Loses GOP Nomination … Mike Lee & Tim Bridgewater Advance to Primary

Robert Bennett … No Soup for You!

Incumbent Utah Senator Robert Bennett has  lost the GOP nomination. Robert lost the nomination during the second round of voting as he finished in third place. Mike Lee and  Tim Bridgewater will advance to the June 22nd primary.

Sen. Robert Bennett lost his party’s nomination during the second round of voting at the GOP state convention Saturday, making the three-term Senator the first incumbent to fall in this volatile midterm election cycle.

Bennett finished in third place in the crucial second-round vote, garnering just 26 percent of the delegate’s support, well behind Tea Party-backed candidate Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater, who will advance to the June 22nd primary.

“The political atmosphere obviously has been toxic and it’s very clear that some of the votes I have cast have added to the toxic environment,” Bennett acknowledged in a brief media availability with reporters shortly after he was eliminated in the second round of voting.

The ballot went as follows at the GOP Convention:

Bennett was a distant third in the voting among roughly 3,500 delegates. He garnered just under 27 percent of the vote. Bridgewater had 37 percent and Lee 35 percent.

Bennett is the first incumbent to lose his seat in Washington this year, the victim of a conservative movement angered by rising taxes and the growth of government.

As stated at Conservatives 4 Palin, today’s results are a clear win for Conservatives. In a state as conservative as Utah, there is no reason why a RINO like Robert Bennett should have ever been the Senator.

Let this be a lesson to all Republicans … just because you are in incumbent RINO does not give you a free pass to another term. Hint, Lindsey Graham in SC and Corker & Alexander of TN. If you want to act like a RINO is a predominantly conservative state, you shall face the consequences.

This is not only a humiliating end to Bennett’s career in not being able to make it out of the second round and a victory for conservatives, but also a seminal moment for the Tea Party folks and the establishment GOP.The Tea Party is not for the status quo Republican is shows no qualities of what a GOP candidate is supposed to represent.

This shows that the Tea Party movement isn’t about restoring a Republican status quo.  The movement’s activists want real change, and real action to reverse the growth of government and the profligate spending that has gone on for far too long in Washington DC.  Republican incumbents nationwide should consider this a wake-up call.

In overwhelmingly predominant Republican states Republicans should be very careful to support spending bills like TARP, stimulus bill government spending, new entitlements or any more out of control fool hearty spending.

This is a shot across the bow and a wake up call to Republicans … you best head your voters warnings.