D.C. Political Earthquake: Cantor Loses to Tea Party Candidate
WASHINGTON D.C. (Worthy News)– In a stunning upset, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia lost a Republican primary to Tea Party challenger, David Brat, on Tuesday in an election that was called by pundits as the “political earthquake” that rocked Washington.
In the span of a few hours, David Brat went from being an ‘unknown’ economics professor to the man that ‘shocked’ Washington and the GOP establishment. Brat’s win gave the Tea Party its biggest victory in its short four-year history.
Mr. Brat attributed his victory to a divine calling. “God acted through people on my behalf,” he told Fox News late Tuesday. “It’s an unbelievable miracle.”
Despite outspending his opponent by a margin of 25 to 1, Cantor was defeated by 11 percentage points. The House majority leader spent $5 million on his campaign compared to Brat’s $200,000. However, Brat was backed by author Ann Coulter and radio host Laura Ingraham.
“Eric Cantor’s loss tonight is an apocalyptic moment for the GOP establishment,” L. Brent Bozell, chairman of the conservative group ForAmerica, told the Washington Post. “The grassroots is in revolt and marching.”
House Republicans expressed shock and couldn’t immediately determine the impact of Cantor’s loss.
There was no immediate comment from House Speaker John Boehner. But a senior Republican leadership aide described the mood as “chaos for the leadership ranks,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“We’re absolutely stunned,” the aide said. “Honestly, we really can’t believe it.”
Cantor was seen as the heir apparent to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
“It’s going to be a full-on brawl between the Tea Party and the establishment for control of the leadership. This victory is the ‘Pulp Fiction’ equivalent of the adrenaline needle plunged into the chest of the Tea Party,” Ron Bonjean, a Republican consultant, told the Washington Examiner.
Brat has accused the House majority leader of being the “No. 1 cheerleader in Congress for ‘amnesty.’ Now with Brat’s victory, it appears that immigration reform has been shelved for 2014.
“The Democrat response is to keep saying, ‘Oh, this is a tea-party victory. They are not saying ‘this is a defeat for amnesty’ because they know what I’m saying is true. Americans do not want amnesty. In fact, they’d like a moratorium on immigration generally. Overwhelmingly the polls have shown that for 20 years but the Chamber of Commerce, the Sheldon Adelsons of the world, are buying their way into the heart of John Boehner and Eric Cantor,” Ann Coulter told Fox News.