Eric Cantor, No. 2 House Republican, Defeated in Virginia Primary Upset
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking House Republican, was defeated by a conservative challenger in a primary election Tuesday, an unexpected assertion of tea-party power expected to roil GOP policy on a range of issues.
David Brat, a college professor, won nearly 56% of the vote to Mr. Cantor’s 44%, a margin of more than 7,000 votes, in the district north and west of Richmond. Mr. Cantor conceded in a speech Tuesday night, telling his supporters in Richmond that “obviously, we came up short,” according to the Associated Press. SOURCE
I’m not a TEA Party kind of person, I haven’t been for quite a while now, just so you know, and it has nothing to do with the TEA Party on a national scale, it’s because the TEA Party in MY part of Texas is as useless as a screen door on a submarine.
The GOP as a whole needs a serious wake-up call. This could possibly be just that call.
His defeat is likely to have big implications for a range of policy matters, including the effort in Congress to overhaul immigration legislation, which has seen support from House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). A departure of Mr. Cantor from Congress also would shake up the ranks of the House leadership and the battle to succeed Mr. Boehner as speaker.
Conservatives are tired of RINOs, Republicans In Name Only.
We want to see the GOP go back to what it was under Ronald Reagan, not under the *big tent* all inclusive mud puddle it became under Michael Steele and Reince Priebus. We want to see a Party that is as far from being called *Dem Lite* as possible, and that my friends means rooting out and removing the RINOs from the herd.
When this story broke I made a comment on Facebook that read:
Everyone crowing about this TEA Party guy beating Cantor better hope he can beat whoever his Dem opponent is. If the GOP loses the House and doesn’t retake the Senate Barack Hussein Obama will have 2 years of uncontrolled power with which he can fully dismantle the United States of America.
Elections DO have consequences.
I was told by my friend Roy Magno, Mayor of Aubrey, TX., and a gentleman that has a lot more savvy regarding East Coast politics than I do, “The district is an R+10 - extremely unlikely that the seat will be lost to a Democrat.”
To put it in terms that I was very familiar with Roy went on to say, “In comparison - TX32 - Pete Session’s district - is also R+10” and that gave me a bit of confidence.
So many TEA Party candidates run against an incumbent simply because they are the incumbent and the TEA Party wants to remove any and all elected officials from office and start over.
In some cases that may indeed be the right thing to do, but not in ALL instances.
Why, for instance, would you remove an incumbent like Pete Sessions from office? He has served Texas for a long time, that’s true, and if Congress had term limits he would be gone, but Congress doesn’t have term limits.
Recently Pete Sessions, faced a challenger for the seat he holds. The only real platform his opponent had was that she was female, she was TEA Party and she was, uh, female. You have to bring a lot more to the table if you want to play in the BIG Leagues. If you’re going after a successful *heavy hitter* like Sessions, and Cantor for that matter, you need to get your ducks in a row and bring your *A* game.
The TEA Party did have some success in this part of Texas. On the local stage two Texas State Senators were unseated by TEA Party challengers, and a few TEA Party supported candidates won statewide elections, but as I stated above, elections DO have consequences.
Eric Cantor was seen by many as an immigration and amnesty supporter and that is just not something that sits well with many Americans. I’m sure there must be other issues that Cantor had with his constituency, not being one of them I am not all that aware of his numbers and issues at home in that district so I will refrain from making accusations.
I was told this by another friend, Thomas Gary, “Cantor should have picked his fight with the DEMS and not with the Tea Party. Negativity is not the way to go. And you can’t ride the fence on any issue or it may bite you in the ass.”
If the TEA Party wants to get in the fight I am all for it, as long as they run reputable candidates and not some *Moonbeam* or *fluff and stuff* types.
If the TEA Party gets serious, and if the TEA Party and the GOP could get their heads together, the USA would be a big-time WIN all around but it WILL take a lot of people working together and a degree of organization that the TEA Party always seems to fight against.
A few minor changes, from BOTH sides, and we can take Barack Hussein Obama and his Democratic regime of evil and corruption DOWN as America is reborn to the greatness we were all raised on!
This should be a wake up call to Boehner and the other RINOs that they had better get back to their roots. In my opinion this makes it easier for the Dems to win this seat, although I am not familiar with the district so perhaps your friend is right, but if this helps to wake up the Republicans it could be a net gain in the end regardless of who wins that seat.
Cantor served about 13 years equating to six terms in the house. That’s as long as anyone should served in the House; two terms in the Senate.
These Republicans better remember that the common Tea Party folks are normal everyday working Americans. Many of them don’t consider themselves members of the Tea Party, as it’s not an actual political party, instead they consider themselves Republicans with strong conservative. When these incumbent Republicans attack the Tea Party, many Conservatives take it as an attack upon them as they hold much the same beliefs as the Tea Party. When it came time for the rubber to meet the road, the moderates like McCain and Romney all waved the Conservative flag but unfortunately, Conservatives already knew them. I could understand many Conservatives ditching McCain as actually it was unknown just how dangerous Obama really was to the nation but when they ditched Romney, they knew darn well they were throwing their nation under the bus as Obama had been exposed and was at work decimating the nation.
Movements of true change start slow with rough beginnings. Though there are moonbats in our local Tea Party I still have faith in the movement as a whole.
I agree with you, Fred, that the Tea Party proper and the true conservatives in the GOP have to unite and focus on the core issues, some of them being border security, stopping amnesty and handouts to illegals, stopping the numerous bad policies driving the EPA and the IRS, reversing Obamacare and shrinking the government. There are other issues, these noted being on the forefront.
Laura Ingraham said this morning that the Tea Party did not get behind Brat to defeat Cantor, thinking it was impossible. It was largely the support of media folk like her, Mark Levin and others that made it possible. And the fact that people opposed to more immigration nonsense came out and voted. While it is deemed a Tea Party victory, it was really an independent voter victory.
OK, first, Congratulations to Dave Brat. Next, the media attention given to the TEA party in this race is both undeserved and inaccurate. Not a single TEA party group helped Brat. Yes, they were invited to do so, but Cantor’s claim that the TEA party beat him is simply overstated. This was what the TEA party started out to be — a grassroots push back against over reaching and tone deaf establishment (entitled) politicians. Third, if I could do so I would nominate Jeb Henserling (Texas fifth congressional district) as new majority leader in the house. BTW, Fred Witzell, the establishment was not working with the grass roots on this. What would be nice is if the establishment would quit biting the (voters’) hands that feed them, though. Early estimates are that Cantor spent or raised about $5 million. At last report, Bart had spent $100K.
Keep your powder dry
While I share your opinion regarding the Tea Party for the most part, it did create an awakening back in 2010. Lots of bad candidates ran and we lost seats we should have won on the National level, support for local and State elections were more successful. Either way, this should give us a boost for this fall. Boehner moaning about the lost of his buddy Cantor says it all.
A win for the good guys. A breath of fresh air. Like what he stands for. Bart’s victory should get the attention of the mainstream GOP. Hope they also decide that this nation needs to get back to its Judeo/Christian roots.
I agree with the reason the TEA party was begun as well as many of the thoughts behind it…A few “moonies” have crept in…That being said, there HAS to be some good there because the LameStream Media is misquoting and misrepresenting at EVERY chance. Much like they attempt to paint people of (real) faith, the NRA, (just 2 examples) as backwoods, blood-thirsty, haters…
Let’s get “Bonehead cry baby” out FIRST. Then maybe Princey boy…them retake what is ours!
I can only hope this is a beginning trend, as the current illegal immigrant situation is beginning to crush our infrastructure. Obama is essentially going “Cloward-Piven” on the illegal immigrant situation because he hasn’t yet acquired full amnesty.
BZ
Just have to ask, it may be a ridiculous question but is there anything to stop him from issuing an executive order for amnesty?
Keep in mind that Lindsay Graham also won. That is a big victory for the moderate/left/Establishment.
I just wish Boehner could be taken out. I would like to see Jeb Henserling or Sam Johnson be the replacement for Cantor. Or even Mike Burgess also from North Texas. Of course that is selfish of me because they are conservatives from my home area but they would also be the kind of congressmen whose conservatism would motivate Independent Conservatives like the Reagan Democrats(most of whom are really Independents now).
Good post Fred. I wish Mr. Brat well.