Free Republic

Eric Cantor’s loss is historic. No sitting House majority leader has lost an election since the office was created in 1899. While Cantor’s loss was a stunning surprise, the warning signals were around for a while: 1. Cantor managed to muddle his message on immigration. His direct-mail pieces claimed he was foursquare against amnesty. But the newspapers covering Washington, D.C., quoted him as saying he was seeking a compromise with President Obama on immigration. Voters resolved the seeming contradiction by deciding to vote out their establishment congressman. Cantor’s loss destroys any chance of a comprehensive immigration bill passing the House...

Big money couldn’t save Eric Cantor. The darling of big Wall Street donors, the K Street business types and the Republican establishment went down in flames Tuesday, all the while crushing his no-name opponent with a 26-to-1 cash advantage in the money race. Cantor, the House majority leader, raised nearly $5.5 million during the cycle, bolstered by investments from the American Chemistry Council, the American College of Radiology, the National Rifle Association, and the National Association of Realtors. He lost to Dave Brat, a college professor with a $200,000 shoestring budget. The result should be a wakeup call that with...

The dream of a Jewish Republican speaker of the House is no more. With House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s startling ouster in a primary election this week, the man who was on a track to be the highest-ranking Jewish official in American history now appears consigned to the status of a “Jeopardy” answer. His defeat has left Jewish organizations in both parties reeling, especially the GOP’s long-suffering Jewish coalition groups. Cantor was – and for now, remains – the No. 2 Republican in a conference of 233 lawmakers. But for Jewish Republicans, Cantor is a singular figure, the only Jewish...

Nancy Pelosi said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s loss has created a “ whole new ballgame” for the midterm elections. Cantor lost in an upset to tea party challenger Dave Brat on Tuesday, an outcome Democrats quickly jumped on as a sign that the Republican Party is being pulled to the right by its conservative wing. “Eric Cantor has long been the face of House Republicans’ extreme policies, debilitating dysfunction and manufactured crises. Tonight is a major victory for the Tea Party as they yet again pull the Republican Party further to the radical right,” she said in a statement....

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning loss to his tea party challenger on Tuesday will create the biggest disruption for GOP lawmakers since the departure of Tom DeLay eight years ago, and throws open the question of who will be the next speaker after John Boehner leaves. It’s unclear how long Boehner plans to stay on, or whether Cantor’s defeat will alter the Ohio Republican’s thinking on his own future. There has been speculation for months that Boehner could step down after Election Day, or before the end of the next Congress, with Cantor in place as his certain successor....

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) picked up the endorsement of one of Virginia’s largest newspapers this weekend in his primary fight against economics professor Dave Brat. The Richmond Times-Dispatch lauded Cantor as “indispensable” in an editorial published Sunday, just two days out from Election Day. In its endorsement, the editorial board touted Cantor’s long tenure and experience in the House, as well as his leadership and willingness to work across the aisle to move legislation. “Cantor reflects Reagan's optimism and shuns the politics of resentment that pollute today's climate. He believes the economy retains great potential; government's job is...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor canceled a scheduled speech he was to give Wednesday morning before the National Association of Manufacturers, as policymakers scramble to sort through what his stunning political loss means for the financial sector. Cantor was expected to discuss a host of conservative policy initiatives at NAM's annual summit, but now he will be replaced by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), according to a source familiar with the matter. No explanation was given by the source. Cantor lost in a primary election Tuesday night to Tea Party challenger David Brat, an economics professor. His last minute speech cancellation...

The conservative economics professor topples the House Majority Leader in a stunning upsetThe bespectacled college professor who toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary Tuesday earned a masters of divinity from Princeton with a thesis on the philosophical doctrine of logical positivism. He was a rare breed of giant slayer: the kind that nobody saw coming. “God acted through people on my behalf,” Dave Brat told Fox News after his win. “The issue is the Republican Party has been paying too much attention to Wall Street, and not enough attention to Main Street.” When the votes were...

Former U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001, served as Minority Whip from 2009-2011 and Majority Leader from 2011 - June 10, 2014 when I was handed one of the most embarrassing losses in modern political history. Really regret opposing the extension of unemployment benefits now and calling the Tea Party "a tremendous positive influence" in 2010. Will count votes (badly) for food.

Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s upset primary loss to political newcomer David Brat sends an unambiguous message to the GOP leadership: stop your suicidal course on immigration.

As conservatives begin to wrap their heads around the shocking primary defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, at least one member of the coup to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner doesn’t think an open spot in leadership will strengthen Boehner’s hand come the 114th Congress. Just minutes after Cantor’s defeat was official on Tuesday night, Rep. Tim Huelskamp told CQ Roll Call that Cantor’s ouster “bodes well for an entire new leadership team.” The Kansas Republican, who hasn’t been quiet about his qualms with leadership, said it’s “too early to tell” exactly how this affects leadership races, “but, again,...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his Republican primary Tuesday in a stunning defeat to Dave Brat, a little-known tea party-backed challenger, in one of the biggest upsets in recent political history. Mr. Brat, an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College who called his win a “miracle,” defeated Mr. Cantor by 56 percent to 44 percent with all precincts reporting. CNN and The Associated Press called the race just a little over an hour after Virginia polls closed at 7 p.m. “Obviously, we came up short,” Mr. Cantor told supporters at his headquarters at the Westin Hotel in the state capital....

Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost in stunning fashion Tuesday night to tea party challenger Dave Brat. And Sen. Ted Cruz’s staff appears to be pretty celebratory on Twitter in response. The senator and the majority leader have clashed before, most notably over Obamacare. Here are tweets from three top staffers. Cruz’s speechwriter and senior communications adviser: Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter Follow VA #MakesDCListen ReplyRetweetFavorite Cruz’s chief of staff: Chip Roy @chiproytx Follow Is DC Listening yet? #MakeDCListen ReplyRetweetFavorite Cruz’s press secretary, responding to a tweet from Erick Erickson on stories about the “Tea Party dying” in the mainstream media: @...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in a Republican primary Tuesday, conceding his Virginia seat to a local activist after a stunning loss with possibly dramatic consequences for leadership, the chances of any immigration overhaul passing Congress and the future of his party. He is the first majority leader ever to fall in primary defeat — the position was created in 1899. Cantor, toppled by college economics professor Dave Brat, 56 percent to 44 percent, conceded just after The Associated Press declared the race over. Democratic and Republican leadership aides expressed total disbelief and dumbfoundedness Tuesday night. Political operatives...

Desperate to tie David Brat's shocking defeat tonight of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia's Republican Congressional Primary to something other than voter resistance to illegal-immigrant amnesty, some on the left are already implying that Cantor's Jewish faith had something to do with the result. The fact that the seven-term Congressman has, as far as I can tell, never gotten grief of any kind from either party about his religious affiliation seems not to matter. After the jump, readers will find a couple of religion-tainted tweets from bona fide members of the liberal media elite, followed by interesting items...

This was previously posted on April 9, 2014– Eric Cantor ought to have some free time in a few months to think about this. So what’s this all about? Conservative writer and activist Brent Bozell, the founder and president of the Media Research Center, sent this letter to Majority Leader Eric Cantor on his decision to headline an anti-Tea Party event this weekend in Florida. Dear Majority Leader Cantor: Conservative leaders were stunned to learn that you will be headlining a conference in Florida this weekend that is, purely and simply, a direct attack on Tea Party conservatives. Worse still,...

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) offered his sympathies to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in a brief statement late Tuesday after his top lieutenant was defeated in a stunning primary loss. “Eric Cantor and I have been through a lot together,” Boehner said in a statement that read like a condolence note. “He’s a good friend and a great leader, and someone I’ve come to rely upon on a daily basis as we make the tough choices that come with governing. My thoughts are with him and Diana and their kids tonight.” Boehner and Cantor have worked closely together in the...

Jun. 10, 2014 - 7:17 - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor loses to tea party-backed candidate Dave Brat

A Senior Republican leadership aide described the mood as "chaos for the leadership ranks." "We're absolutely stunned. Honestly, we really can't believe it," said the aide, who likened it to the 2004 election defeat of Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who was Senate minority leader at the time. "Given the speculation Boehner himself may decide not to run again for speaker, the idea had been out there that Cantor would simply walk into the speakership," said the aide. "But now, who the hell would be the next speaker?"—particularly, the aide added.

NBC's chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd pointed to a story originally broken Breitbart Texas abut the U.S.-Mexican border being flooded with illegal immigrant children as the main reason behind the "perfect storm" that caused House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to loss the GOP primary to Tea Party challenger Dave Brat. Todd credited the grassroots anti immigration movement reaction to the story.