Colorado state Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt (R-Colorado Springs) and U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) lost primaries for their respective seats in June.
Klingenschmitt, who once publicly prayed for the death of Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn, had decided to abandon his seat in the state House of Representatives in order to run for the Colorado Senate. He lost to veteran Republican lawmaker Bob Gardner.
“I work hard to establish God’s kingdom, not my own, and, as you know, God’s will is not always done in this world,” Klingenschmitt told supporters after the loss.
Klingenschmitt’s time in office was rocky. State Republicans stripped him of one of his committee assignments after he said the case of a woman whose fetus was cut from her body proved the nation had fallen away from God.
Forbes, meanwhile, lost to Scott Taylor, a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates. While in office, Forbes regularly promoted the Religious Right’s political agenda. He backed a resolution honoring “73 milestones of spirituality and faith in the United States,” spoke at Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Conference and had been endorsed by the Family Research Council.
