Democratic Florida Rep. and Florida Gators superfan Corrine Brown lost her primary election Tuesday as she faces 24 federal charges.
Brown, a 12-term congresswoman, and her chief of staff Elias "Ronnie" Simmons were charged in July with "conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, concealing material facts on required financial disclosure forms, theft of government property, obstruction of the due administration of the internal revenue laws, and filing false tax returns," according to court filings.
Al Lawson, a former state senator, beat Brown 47 to 39. Lawson will face Republican Glo Smith in the general election. The seat in Florida's fifth district is generally considered a safe one for Democrats.
Brown is known for a speech she made in the House congratulating the 2008 National Championship University of Florida college football team during which she wore an orange Gators robe.
In the speech, Brown said that she wished to "gratulate" the team and praised the university as "the academic school in the country." She also referred to then-Coach Urban Meyer as "Irvin Meyers" and expressed distaste for the idea of a college football playoff system, adding, "everything is just not all equal."
"It is clear," Brown said, "that the Gators are superb to any other schools with the conference that we play in."
"One, two, three, four, five. Then the Gators don’t take no jive," Brown added before yielding back the balance of her time.
The 2008 National Championship Gators team lost only once, to the Ole Miss Rebels.