Chelsea Clinton's mother-in-law, Marjorie Margolies, was crushed in her bid Tuesday for a House seat in a Philadelphia district she represented from 1993 to 1995 – despite high-profile fundraising and campaign help from Hillary and Bill Clinton.
The Associated Press called the race for her opponent, Brendan Boyle.
With a little over 78.3 percent of precincts reporting, Margolies had just under 25.2 percent of the vote while Boyle, a state lawmaker and the only Philadelphia resident in the race, had 49.1 percent.
Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, an obstetric anesthesiologist, was a distant third with 10.7 percent, though she'd topped her rivals in fundraising, taking in more than $1.9 million.
Margolies, 71, had both fundraising and campaign help from the Clintons – including a final
TV ad in which Bill Clinton touts her political chops.
Her son, Marc Mezvinsky, married Chelsea Clinton in 2010. The couple are now expecting their first child.
Margolies held the 13th District seat from 1993 to 1995, but was voted out of a second term during the Republican wave of 1994 – after casting a crucial vote for then-President Clinton's 1993 budget.
ABC News called her favor to Clinton "the most celebrated political debt of the year."
During her campaign, Margolies cited her experience working with political leaders as both a congresswoman and as founder of a women's rights nonprofit, Women's Campaign International. She said Washington needs new voices because at times, "Congress looks very much like a grade-school playground of unruly children."
But she struggled to connect with voters, and the campaign had trouble maintaining cash-on-hand throughout the race, ABC News reported.
A
March report added to her woes, finding that Margolies "doubled her own salary as head of a small, largely taxpayer-funded charity [Women's Campaign International] into the six figures" as her now-ex-husband Ed Mezvinsky was facing charges of fraud.
The seat, one of two open U.S. House seats in Pennsylvania this year, is being vacated in January by Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a fifth-term Democrat who was running for governor.
Turnout for the primary was "super-light," poll workers told the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Associate Press contributed to this report.
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