Connor Ellis was the Underwoods' communications director who got hired for the job by the Second Lady Claire Underwood in February 2014. It was his diligence that got him the job as he managed to find a lot of relevant public domain info on the Underwoods, including a copy of an old interview with a local TV station while Claire still spoke with a strong southern accent.
Biography[]
Within weeks of getting hired, Ellis was thrown into fire via having to stage-manage the Underwoods' big CNN interview with Ashleigh Banfield. The interview got scheduled on the same day the Entitlements Bill (which VP Underwood fought tooth-and-nail for over the previous weeks, including pulling every trick in the political playbook, to pass the Senate) was being put on the vote before the House. On top of everything else, a suspicious powder was discovered in the Capitol Hill mail, forcing a quarantine while the substance was being checked for anthrax thus trapping VP Underwood in the building.
As a result, a decision was made for Claire to do the CNN interview alone. Expecting questions about why she never had kids, she was coached and prepared by Ellis on how to answer it convincingly and graciously. Sure enough, Banfield brought up that question and then unexpectedly pulled out an old attack ad from a then political opponent of Frank Underwood's during one of his previous campaigns suggesting Claire Underwood may have been pregnant at some point. Shockingly to Ellis, Claire admitted live on air about once being pregnant and then further shocked everyone by saying the pregnancy ended with an abortion before asking for a quick break. Conferring with Ellis who was in full damage control mode now, she admitted to him that she had actually been pregnant on three separate occasions and had three abortions while Ellis implored her not to say any of it on air, even suggesting to stop the interview. She went back, saying that the pregnancy was aborted due to rape by her boyfriend at the time, now U.S. Marine general Dalton McGinnis.
Behind the Scenes[]
- Connor Ellis was portrayed by Samuel Page in Season 2 of House of Cards.
Appearances[]
| Season 2 | ||||
| "Chapter 14" | "Chapter 15" | "Chapter 16" | "Chapter 17" | "Chapter 18" |
| "Chapter 19" | "Chapter 20" | "Chapter 21" | "Chapter 22" | "Chapter 23" |
| "Chapter 24" | "Chapter 25" | "Chapter 26" | ||