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Major media outlets are missing a major aspect of why House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor was defeated Tuesday night, grassroots Virginia activists tell The Daily Caller.
When Cantor was defeated by his primary challenger Tuesday night, the national pundits looked confused. They hadn’t prepped for this moment, and most political watchers hadn’t even followed the race.
“Well, [Insert anchor's name,]” the average guest opined. “The conventional wisdom suggests that Eric Cantor was defeated because of his support for immigration reform, and this is sure to send a chilling message to moderate Republicans and GOP business
interests,” etc.
Except the “conventional wisdom” just hours before had been that Mr. Cantor was moments from sailing to victory. And that was wrong.
“Those who attribute Cantor’s loss to immigration reform know little about Virginia politics and what’s gone on in the state over the past two years or so,” Americans for Tax Reform State Affairs Manager Paul Blair told TheDC.
“Amnesty was only part of Dave Brat’s victory,” longtime conservative leader and “Takeover” author Richard Viguerie told TheDC.
So what, then, made this primary challenge so different from previous challenges?
Simply put: Grassroots anger at a Washington power player meddling in Virginia politics with a heavy hand and a disregard for his base. While other leadership candidates, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, spent months courting tea party and base voters, Cantor’s team turned on them in a sustained and unsuccessful campaign that culminated in his Tuesday night defeat.
It was the attempts by the Cantor team and other establishment Republicans in Virginia to bully, exclude and defeat grassroots conservatives in his district and elsewhere that made his defeat essential to send a message to Washington,” conservative Virginia activist and writer Mark FitzGibbons told TheDC.
When Cantor was defeated by his primary challenger Tuesday night, the national pundits looked confused. They hadn’t prepped for this moment, and most political watchers hadn’t even followed the race.
“Well, [Insert anchor's name,]” the average guest opined. “The conventional wisdom suggests that Eric Cantor was defeated because of his support for immigration reform, and this is sure to send a chilling message to moderate Republicans and GOP business
interests,” etc.Except the “conventional wisdom” just hours before had been that Mr. Cantor was moments from sailing to victory. And that was wrong.
“Those who attribute Cantor’s loss to immigration reform know little about Virginia politics and what’s gone on in the state over the past two years or so,” Americans for Tax Reform State Affairs Manager Paul Blair told TheDC.
“Amnesty was only part of Dave Brat’s victory,” longtime conservative leader and “Takeover” author Richard Viguerie told TheDC.
So what, then, made this primary challenge so different from previous challenges?
Simply
put: Grassroots anger at a Washington power player meddling in Virginia politics with a heavy hand and a disregard for his base. While other leadership candidates, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, spent months courting tea party and base voters, Cantor’s team turned on them in a sustained and unsuccessful campaign that culminated in his Tuesday night defeat.It was the attempts by the Cantor team and other establishment Republicans in Virginia to bully, exclude and defeat grassroots conservatives in his district and elsewhere that made his defeat essential to send a message to Washington,” conservative Virginia activist and writer Mark FitzGibbons told TheDC.
