Eric Cantor's Shocking, Richly Deserved Primary Defeat - By Jonathan Chait
Since Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 elections, the political future of Eric Cantor has been the subject of ceaseless speculation. The speculation always centered around whether — or, really, when — Cantor would depose Speaker John Boehner. The notion that Cantor himself would be knifed before he could knife Boehner occurred to absolutely nobody. Shockingly, it happened, as an obscure right-wing challenger named David Brat not only defeated Cantor in a primary but defeated him by double-digits.
The shock contained by Cantor’s defeat is almost impossible to fully convey. Brat teaches economics at Randolph-Macon college, and won a $500,000 fellowship funded by libertarian banking millionaire John Allison to spread the word of Ayn Rand to impressionable college students. But there are so many millions of dollars sloshing around the conservative world that such an achievement hardly indicates fame or influence. Brat’s c.v. conveys his standing as an anonymous cog within the movement, containing such highlights as “Attend U.S. Senator Ayotte talk at American Enterprise Institute, met President of AEI, Arthur Brook.” (The President of the American Enterprise Institute is actually named Arthur Brooks.)
Brat was outraised by Cantor twenty-five to one. Cantor’s internal polling had him leading the race by 34 points. Brat scheduled a meet-and-greet session with Beltway conservative leaders like Grover Norquist and Paul Weyrich — the kinds of movement hands an insurgent absolutely needs to woo to gain any oxygen for his quixotic campaign — but stood them up because it turned out to fall on finals week. The Washington Post story previewing the race this morning began:
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