Washington Reels As House’s Eric Cantor Loses To Tea Party Challenger

In a shock­ing polit­i­cal defeat guar­an­teed to upend Republican Party pol­i­tics, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia lost his pri­ma­ry elec­tion Tuesday to a tea par­ty new­com­er who ham­mered the No. 2 leader on immi­gra­tion reform. It was the first down­fall of a con­gres­sion­al leader in a generation.

Establishment Washington reeled from the moment the polls closed as Cantor, the ambi­tious leader with his sights on becom­ing the next House speak­er, trailed Dave Brat, a local col­lege pro­fes­sor who rus­tled for tea par­ty sup­port at a time when GOP lead­ers else­where have suc­ceed­ed in halt­ing the ascent of hard-right candidates.

In the end, Brat claimed an easy vic­to­ry over the sev­en-term incum­bent in the Richmond-area district.

“Serving as the 7^th District con­gress­man and hav­ing the priv­i­lege to be the major­i­ty leader has been one of the high­est hon­ors of my life,” said Cantor, his wife, Diana, at his side.

The out­come was cer­tain to not only ignite a lead­er­ship bat­tle among the Republican major­i­ty in the House, but also to send a shud­der though rank-and-file law­mak­ers who may become less will­ing to stray from tea par­ty ortho­doxy, par­tic­u­lar­ly on the still loom­ing debate over immi­gra­tion reform.

“This stun­ning news could be the first shot in an all-out war between the estab­lish­ment and tea par­ty over lead­er­ship con­trol,” said GOP polit­i­cal strate­gist Ron Bonjean, a for­mer top aide to Republican lead­er­ship. http://​www​.latimes​.com/​n​a​t​i​o​n​/​p​o​l​i​t​i​c​s​/​p​o​l​i​t​i​c​s​n​o​w​/​l​a​-​n​a​-​p​n​-​c​a​n​t​o​r​-​l​o​s​e​s​-​t​o​-​t​e​a​-​p​a​r​t​y​-​c​h​a​l​l​e​n​g​e​r​-​2​0​1​4​0​6​1​0​-​s​t​o​r​y​.​h​tml