News Cantor's loss and the triumph of the Tea Party

[Second Summer]

As most US members have probably heard by now, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s suffered a surprising loss in the primary yesterday:

Midnight had long since passed, but the lights were still on at the Capitol, where House Republicans were already planning — and tensely arguing about — how to move ahead amid the chaos of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning primary loss.

The most immediate question is whether a humbled Cantor will step down from his powerful post or try to hold on to it for the remainder of the year. That decision will determine whether there will be a potentially divisive leadership race in the coming weeks or whether that will be postponed until after the midterm elections.

More: House Republicans up late weighing strategy in wake of Cantor’s shocking defeat (The Washington Post, 11. June 2014)

I'm curious as to what is happening in the political sphere in the US these days. It seems as though the Tea Party is gaining ground within the GOP, but how great is their support among the general electorate? E.g. this Prof. Brat, who won the primary against Cantor, how will he fare in the midterm elections?

Also, what will the political landscape look like as we approach start-up of the presidential campaigns for 2016? Will the Tea Party take over the GOP? Will the GOP candidate be a Tea Partyer? If Hillary Clinton runs for the Democrats, will that in itself work as a red cloth and energizer for the Republicans / right / conservatives?

 

[Second Summer]

This article has more details about what happened:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the Speaker-in-waiting, was defeated Tuesday in a primary election by a little-known conservative economics professor, David Brat, in one of the most stunning upsets in modern political history.

Brat defeated Cantor, a six-term incumbent, despite having no experience in elected office and being outspent by nearly 20-to-1. The Associated Press called the race for Brat shortly after 8 p.m., an hour after polls closed in Virginia’s 7th District. Brat was leading Cantor, 56 percent to 44 percent, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Because Virginia has an open primary system, Brat's campaign urged supporters to recruit Democrats and independents to help oust Cantor, although it was unclear how organized that effort was.

More: Cantor out in Tea Party shocker (The Hill, 10. June 2014)

 

[rainforests1]

I thought the Tea Party would become irrelevant by now. They've surprised me. I thought they performed poorly in some of the earlier primaries so it's hard to say they're gaining ground.

 

[beancounter]

People say they want congress to "do things" and dislike gridlock, yet they keep on electing the individuals who are the biggest obstacles to achieving those things...

 

[Amy SF]

1. Virginia has an open primary system, meaning that voters can cross party lines and vote for anyone from any party, rather than having a ballot listing only candidates from their own party. It's possible that some Democratic voters in Virginia's primary did just that, voting for the most right wing candidate on the ballot (Dave Brat) in hopes of getting somebody so extreme that in the November election, moderate voters would vote for the Democratic candidate (Jack Trammell) instead.

It's a tricky idea, but it just might work. I understand something like that was done in one district in Illinois, where the Republican candidate is a woman so nuts that she blames hurricanes for causing autism, or vice versa, I can't remember; however, the congressional seat there is held by a Democratic incumbent in a district that is considered so safe for Democrats that she's pretty much reelected already. It's the same here in California, where it's extremely rare for Republicans to be elected to any political office in my area, or to statewide office. I didn't vote for the most extreme Tea Party-backed candidates because I knew they'd lose anyway.

2. The Tea Party is holding on, but mainstream Republicans *are* fighting back.

3. If we can get millennials and minorities (and especially millennial minorities) to vote in large numbers, the Tea Party will lose power. Those are the voting groups who don't like the Tea Party and what it stands for.

 

[ledboots]

The House and the Senate on both sides of the aisle have done exactly *nothing* for years except have political spats in front of the world. They haven't even passed a budget. I think people just want to vote against the incumbents to end the political gridlock in Washington. "Throw the bums out."

I don't think the tea party has much chance of getting many candidates elected; they are too extreme.

 

[Second Summer]

I'm reading elsewhere that Brat's success was allegedly due to his stance against immigration and amnesty for illegal immigrants, and focus on the budget.