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On Tuesday night, one of the most stunning upsets in Congressional primary history took place, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) losing his primary to economics professor Dave Brat. Brat campaigned on the platform that Cantor was a backer of amnesty legislation; heavy conservative media coverage of the thousands of illegal immigrant youths pouring across our inundated southern border contributed to a sense of urgency. So Cantor is out. And the landscape has radically shifted, both for the Republican Party, and for the 2014 election. Here are the biggest ramifications of Cantor’s defeat. Boehner Is Likely Done. The writing...

The No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House is a goner. And amid the ashes of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s shocking defeat Tuesday, comprehensive immigration reform smolders. This is not to say that immigration reform would have passed if the Virginia Republican had not been the first House majority leader to lose since 1899. Immigration reform was already endangered. But Cantor’s defeat to tea partier David Brat was so intertwined with immigration -- “amnesty” and “illegal aliens” – that the few fence-sitters in the GOP-led House are going to flock back to the politically right side of the divide....

The Tea Party is five years old this election season, which means it’s done teething and spitting up on itself, but still prone to temper tantrums, irrational outbursts and threats to take its toys and storm off if it doesn’t get its way. As a movement, it is down to a couple of former talk-radio hosts running for office in two states of the old Confederacy, Texas and Mississippi. And in the latter, the Senate candidate, Chris McDaniel, has given a keynote to a group that considers Abraham Lincoln a war criminal. It’s not hard to make the case that...

In a stunning turn of events, conservative upstart Dave Brat has defeated House Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for Virginia’s seventh congressional district. Immigration played a decisive role in this primary. The apparent willingness of some House Republicans to work with the White House to pass an immigration package that includes a mass legalization and expanded guest-worker programs has infuriated many moderates and conservatives, especially those who want to reinvigorate the electoral fortunes of the Republican party with a renewed focus on economic opportunity and middle-class uplift. Claiming that the House Republican leadership’s immigration “principles” constituted “amnesty,” Brat...

A spokesman for President Obama rushed to assure House Republicans that Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) didn’t actually lose because of his gestures toward Democrats on immigration reform. “Cantor’s problem wasn’t his position on immigration reform, it was his lack of a position,” Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer tweeted, citing the success of Senator Lindsay Graham (R., S.C.). “Graham wrote and passed a bill and is winning big.” Cantor’s campaign sent out direct mail pieces ahead of the election maintaining that he was ”stopping the Obama-Reid plan to give illegal aliens amnesty,” but challenger Dave Brat accused him of supporting

First - You have to fight your battles one at a time. We needed to STOP the Republicans on their Amnesty roll this session of Congress (first). We likely did that by defeating Cantor. Think about it - the Republican leadership taps a low level House Republican from Manville Arkansas (for example) who's been on the fence about Amnesty. They say to him: "We REALLY need your vote here to pass Amnesty and we know you're considering it. Well, House elections are every two years, so it won't be long before his next Primary. He knows that a vote for...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who was in line to be the next House Speaker, shockingly lost his primary Tuesday to economics professor Dave Brat. In knocking Cantor off and shocking Washington and the GOP establishment, voters in Virginia's seventh congressional district may have killed amnesty legislation in this Congress. The Associated Press called the race for Brat at 8:03 PM EST with around 85% of the vote in and Brat leading 55.8% to 44.2%. In the final weeks of the campaign, Brat made the race completely about amnesty and open borders, saying a vote for Cantor would be...

As if the political drama were not powerful enough, chaos erupted at the election night headquarters shortly after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor conceded his stunning defeat to tea party backed conservative David Brat. Cantor addressed his supporters for about four minutes at a suburban Richmond hotel ballroom, then boarded SUV without taking questions from supporters scurrying after him. Then it got really rambunctious. In the room of downcast Cantor supporters, a new energy suddenly erupted — but not the kind they wanted election night. A group of immigration activists stormed the ballroom, screaming and waving a flag. “What do...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) conceded Tuesday night that “obviously, we came up short” in fending off the Tea Party challenge from economics professor Dave Brat. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Brat had 55.6 percent to Cantor’s 44.4 percent. “I know there’s a lot of long faces here tonight and it’s disappointing, sure,” Cantor said. “But I believe in this country, I believe there’s opportunity around the next corner for all of us.” “So I look forward to continue to fight with all of you for the things that we believe in for the conservative cause because those...

In a stunning upset propelled by tea party activists, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was defeated in Tuesday’s congressional primary, with insurgent David Brat delivering an unpredicted and devastating loss to the second most powerful Republican in the House who has widely been touted as a future speaker.

In a stunning upset, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost the GOP Virginia primary Tuesday night to Dave Brat, an economics professor and political novice.

RICHMOND, Va. — Dave Brat, a local economics professor, toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Tuesday night in the most shocking primary defeat since Republicans took the House in 2010. The conservative challenger’s victory halts one of the most meteoric rises in national politics, and illustrates the strong anti-incumbent fever that has taken over Cantor’s Richmond-area district. Cantor is the second House incumbent to lose this primary season — Texas GOP incumbent Ralph Hall was defeated by a tea-party backed challenger at the end of May. Cantor’s defeat not only reorders Virginia politics, where Cantor was the highest-ranking Republican,...

A conservative challenger is expected to fall far short of defeating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in Tuesday’s congressional primary. Disorganization and poor funding have stymied the campaign of tea party activist David Brat, even as he tapped into conservative resentment toward a party leader who has been courting the Republican right for years.

A poll conducted late last month for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) shows him with a wide lead over challenger David Brat heading toward next Tuesday's Republican primary election. The poll, shared with Post Politics, shows Cantor with a 62 percent to 28 percent lead over Brat, an economics professor running to Cantor's right. Eleven percent say they are undecided.

AP just called the race for Brat in the VA-7 race. But, but, but....they said the Tea Party was dead!!!!

Cantor looks cooked to me. Truly stunned. Low turnout+Immigration issue+ story of current border crisis=perfect storm for Brat snip Right now, I just don't see where Cantor (R) can make up his 58%-42% deficit. This would be the biggest House upset I've ever seen. #VA07

Did I just hear this right? Dave Brat has a big lead over Cantor right now...only %40 of the vote left to count and he's got a huge lead 57-43 GOOOOOO BRAT!!! Let's hope he pull this out!

Majority Leader Eric Cantor offered a new explanation for why he supports granting amnesty to individuals brought into the country illegally as minors, often called “DREAMers” in reference to the “DREAM Act.” It's “Biblical,” he said in a local radio interview. “I’ve always said that there’s a Biblical root and a tradition in this country that says we don’t hold children liable for their parents’ acts and when you have kids who may have been brought here let’s say at 2 months old unbeknownst to them and they’ve been here all their lives and they want to serve in our...

On June 10, voters can free Eric Cantor from a hostage crisis. They can vote for conservative challenger David Brat in the Republican primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. Unlike other primaries around the country, David Brat has a very good chance of defeating Eric Cantor on June 10, particularly as the outrageous conduct of Cantor’s team sours Cantor’s image. Cantor could then be liberated from his establishment captors. Cantor used to be thought of as a conservative. But apparently Eric Cantor is now being held hostage by a highly-aggressive cartel of establishment Republican consultants Ray Allen and Mike Thomas,...

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-7th, is portraying himself as a bastion against illegal immigration in fending off a June 10 primary challenge from Dave Brat, a professor at Randolph-Macon College. "Just yesterday, a liberal pro-amnesty group held a rally and encouraged their supporters to vote in our election for our opponent because Congressman Cantor is standing up to Obama on illegal immigration," Cantor’s campaign said in a May 29 email to supporters. The statement caught PolitiFact’s attention because we attended the May 28 rally at the state Capitol held by Casa de Virginia, a group that supports immigration reform.