A career full of controversy caught up to Rob Anders Saturday night, as the 17-year MP lost the Conservative nomination in Calgary Signal Hill to former provincial cabinet minister Ron Liepert.

Anders had framed the campaign as a “battle for the soul of the Conservative party,” depicting himself as a true blue conservative under siege by soft Red Tories who had signed up party outsiders to knock him off.

VIDEO: Rob Anders won't say what's next after nomination defeat

But despite endorsements of Anders by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Calgary cabinet heavyweight Jason Kenney, Liepert’s message that the area deserved a better MP resonated with Conservative voters weary of Anders’ shoot from the lip style.

Liepert was told the results ahead of the public announcement and there was a loud whoop from those with him as he entered the gym of the Calgary French and International School to hear the verdict proclaimed publicly.

He told reporters that Tories in the area had long wanted an open nomination race and a Conservative choice other than Anders.

“This is a real victory for the people of Calgary Signal Hill,” said the 64-year-old Liepert, who served in the Progressive Conservative cabinets of Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford.

“We were labelled a rump within the party. Well I think we’ve shown this is not a rump. This is the mainstream Conservatives of Signal Hill expressing their views going forward.”

The vote tallies for each candidate were not announced but Conservative Party official Mark Kihn, who oversaw the race, said there were approximately 3,250 eligible voters and about 2,400 votes cast. Liepert said he won “a solid majority.”

Outside Hexters bar in Bowness, a smiling Anders said he was proud of his campaign.

“We fought the good fight,” the 42-year-old MP told reporters as a group of supporters chanted his name.

“I think we’ve taken a lot of great stands on a lot of great issues and it’s been fun.”

Anders — who will remain the Calgary-West MP until the 2015 federal election — said he was going to “think about what’s next” but did not directly answer a question on whether he would seek the Conservative nomination in another riding.

“I’m going to keep on fighting for lower taxes. We’ll see what shape that takes.”

Earlier in the week, he had dismissed the idea of running as an independent if he lost.

The fight for the Tory nomination in Calgary Signal Hill — a new riding created through redistribution — had been characterized by one observer as a political “knife fight.”

Anders accused Liepert of enlisting Liberals and New Democrats to take him out, though his promise to unmask so-called temporary Tories hit a bump when he had to apologize for misidentifying a former Liberal candidate as having joined the Tories.

Anders was also reprimanded by the Conservative party brass for misleading phone calls from volunteers, while he threatened to sue Liepert over his allegations about the calls.

Liepert said Anders’ tactics had ultimately worked against him.