A political earthquake just happened in Virginia’s 8th Congressional district.
Last Tuesday, June 3, 2014, pro-amnesty RINO Congressman and House majority leader Eric Cantor was defeated in the Republican Primary election by an unknown, David Brat, despite having outspent Brat by a whopping 4,333% of $5.2m to Brat’s $120,000.
His academic specialties are macro growth economics, international trade & finance,
economic methodology, history & ethics (moral foundations of capitalism)!
To top it off, as reported by Dan Roberts for The Guardian, June 11, 2014, despite being a Tea Party candidate, Brat had received relatively little help from national Tea Party groups. His win shows the continued strength of grassroots feeling against Washington establishment candidates, a mood that may yet dominate the rest of Obama’s second term in the White House.
With more than three-quarters of precincts reporting by shortly after 8pm, which showed Brat ahead by 55% to 45%, the Associated Press predicted that Brat would comfortably take the seat, almost certainly forcing Cantor out of his position as a top Washington powerbroker for the party.
Internal polling by Cantor’s team ahead of the election had shown him ahead by some 34 percentage points.
It is possible, though unlikely, that Cantor could run as a write-in candidate for the relatively safe Republican House seat in Virginia’s 8th district, which neighbors Richmond.
But his defeat by Brat, a relatively unknown economics professor, will send shockwaves through a party leadership that thought it had survived the 2014 primary election season with relatively limited damage from the Tea Party.
In Tuesday’s primary election in South Carolina, for example, Senator Lindsey Graham comfortably beat six separate Tea Party challengers and avoided a run-off election by gaining more than 50% of the vote.
Cantor, who was already seen as among the more conservative members of the House leadership, had been widely expected to win his primary comfortably. He heavily outspent his opponent with a relatively negative campaign pointing out Brat’s lack of experience.
But Brat successfully criticized Cantor’s support for immigration reform and financial compromise efforts such as extending the debt ceiling and budget authority.
Brat’s win may all but guarantee that Democrat priorities such as immigration reform will not pass the Republican-controlled House in future as its leaders seek to deter future Tea Party challenges.
In November’s election for the House seat, Brat will face Democratic nominee Jack Trammell, also a professor at Randolph-Macon College.
Please help ensure David Brat will defeat Democrat Jack Trammel in this November’s mid-term election.
To donate to Dr. Brat’s campaign, click here!
Here’s Dr. Brat’s speech at the 7th District Republican Convention:
H/t FOTM’s josephbc69
~Eowyn
