GOP leader Eric Cantor loses in shock Tea Party defeat

[truebluefan]

he demise of the Tea Party has been greatly exaggerated.

The anti-establishment force within the GOP was strong enough Tuesday to oust House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a stunning upset by political newcomer and college professor Dave Brat.

Cantor, the second-most powerful House leader, is the highest-ranking Republican to lose renomination to a Tea Party challenger since the movement rose to prominence in 2010. A sitting majority leader has not lost since 1899, according to CQ/Roll Call, a Washington publication.

The last major upset of a sitting House leader was in 1994, when Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., lost in the general election to Republican George Nethercutt.

Brat, an economics professor at Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Va., entered the race in January pledging to be "Eric Cantor's term limit." He vowed to fight for "real, conservative, free-market change" and voiced opposition to a bipartisan budget deal reach last December and an effort by some in the GOP to pass an immigration overhaul.

"Brat ran an aggressive campaign with strong Tea Party support and perhaps some voters felt that Cantor was not doing enough for those in his home district," said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, who resides in Cantor's district.

See more at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ric-cantor-majority-leader-defeated/10304543/

 

[truebluefan]

Cantor to step down from GOP post

Eric Cantor announced Wednesday he will step down as House majority leader on July 31 after suffering a stunning primary loss, touching off a leadership scramble at the top tiers of the Republican Party.

Fox News is told a new leadership election will be held June 19, a little more than a week from now. Cantor, who said he will serve out the remainder of his seventh term as a Virginia congressman, told reporters he made the decision to give up his majority leader post with "great humility."

While he won't be on the ballot in November, he said, "I will be a champion for conservatives across the nation."

Cantor threw his support behind House GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy for the post, offering his "full support" and saying "he'd make an outstanding majority leader."

Read more http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...er-primary-loss-leadership-scramble-underway/

 

[johnestmon]

Re: Cantor to step down from GOP post

The GOP is in total disarray. Cantor was already anti-Obama enough and now this. God help this country.