In one of several primary races across the country, U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his re-election bid Tuesday, falling to Tea Party challenger David Brat in Virginia.
Cantor is the second-ranking House Republican and was considered the front-runner to become the next House speaker. He formerly had the support of the Tea Party and was instrumental in the election of many of the Tea Party-backed candidates who handed Republicans their House majority in 2010.
Brat, a Tea Party activist who earned a doctoral degree in economics from American University, had campaigned saying Cantor was part of the Washington establishment.
"This is a miracle from God that just happened," Brat said Tuesday night.
Cantor conceded earlier Tuesday evening, telling supporters in Richmond, Va., that "obviously, we came up short." He said it was the highest honor of his life serving as House majority leader.
"It's disappointing, sure, but I believe in this country. I believe there is opportunity around the next corner for all of us," Cantor said.
Cantor's defeat was the first primary setback for a senior leader in Congress in recent years. Former House Speaker Thomas Foley of Washington and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota both lost their seats at the polls in the past two decades, but they fell to Republicans, not to challengers from within their own parties.
Cantor is the only Jewish Republican in Congress and one of its most dominant fundraisers. He raised more than $5.4 million for the 2014 campaign through May 21, compared with $207,000 for Brat, Federal Election Commission reports show.
Cantor had won previous primary elections in his district around Richmond with as much as 79 percent of the vote, and he won his race for a sixth term with 58 percent.
With votes counted in 99 percent of the precincts, 64,418 votes were cast, roughly a 37 percent increase over two years ago. Despite that, Cantor polled fewer votes than he did in 2012 -- 28,631 this time, compared with 37,369 then.
"Eric Cantor's loss tonight is an apocalyptic moment for the GOP establishment," said Brent Bozell, chairman of ForAmerica, a conservative group that targeted Cantor throughout the primary. "The grass roots is in revolt and marching."
Jay Poole, a Cantor volunteer, said Brat tapped into widespread frustration among voters about the gridlock in Washington and issues such as immigration.
"I can't tell you how amazing this is to me," Poole said.
"This is an earthquake," said former Minnesota Congressman Vin Weber, a friend of Cantor's. "No one thought he'd lose."
Brat's supporters gathered Tuesday night in the lobby of a suburban Richmond office park and cheered as the widely unexpected results began to arrive.
Brat made the rounds among a crowd of more than 200 people, shaking hands and giving hugs.
"If I had my way, I wish everybody in Congress and the Senate would be gone and we would start fresh," said Brat voter Henry Moriconi, who expressed frustration that Congress has been unable to confront issues such as the federal deficit.
Brat, he said, is "the right person for the job."
Much of the campaign centered on immigration, where critics on both sides of the debate have recently taken aim at Cantor. Brat accused him of being a top cheerleader for "amnesty" for illegal aliens. Cantor responded by boasting in mailers of blocking Senate plans "to give illegal aliens amnesty."
It was a change in tone for Cantor, who has repeatedly voiced support for giving citizenship to certain foreigners brought illegally to the United States as children.
Shortly after Cantor conceded his defeat and left the suburban Richmond hotel ballroom that had served as his election-night headquarters, a group of immigration activists stormed the room.
Waving a flag, they screamed, "What do we want? Immigration reform! When do we want it? Now!"
A few Cantor supporters tried to block the protesters' entrance, and pushing and shoving ensued, witnesses said. The protesters left after police arrived.
Brat's victory was the biggest for Tea Party forces so far in the 2014 campaign season although last week they forced veteran Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran into a June 24 runoff with state Sen. Chris McDaniel.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is leading an effort to protect incumbents who have taken votes upsetting to the Tea Party, including lifting the nation's debt ceiling to avoid a national default. Cantor voted in favor of that, an act Brat also targeted for criticism.
During an interview on Fox News on Tuesday night, Brat said he ran on Republican principles, though he faulted the party for "paying way too much attention to Wall Street and not enough attention to Main Street."
"The Republican Party has been kind of taking it to the grass roots, and the grass roots is rightly upset," said Brat, who's married and has two children. "The only problem with the Republican principles is that no one's following them."
In the general election, Brat will face Democratic nominee Jack Trammell, an associate professor of sociology at Randolph-Macon College, the same school where Brat teaches economics.
Other races
In South Carolina on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham defeated six Tea Party challengers who also had argued that he was not conservative enough to represent the state.
During an emotional victory speech in downtown Columbia, Graham thanked his supporters and pledged to move forward on several key issues and to work toward winning a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate.
"To the people of South Carolina: Thank you. I will not let you down," Graham said.
Graham had about 59 percent of the vote in early returns, far more than what was needed to avoid the runoff. State Sen. Lee Bright came in second, with nearly 14 percent.
Aside from Bright, those arrayed against Graham included pastor Det Bowers, businessmen Richard Cash and Nancy Mace, the first female cadet graduate from The Citadel, South Carolina's military college. Attorneys Bill Connor and Benjamin Dunn also were seeking the nomination.
Graham, who has been in office since 2002, has raised more than $12 million since his last re-election bid in 2008, while none of his opponents passed the $1 million mark.
Meanwhile, Graham's fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott won his primary by a wide margin.
Scott was appointed to the seat in 2012 after Jim DeMint stepped down, and the general election winner will serve the remainder of DeMint's term.
In the state's Democratic primaries, state Sen. Brad Hutto won the nomination for Graham's seat, while Richland County Councilman Joyce Dickerson was nominated to face Scott. Dickerson and Scott are black, setting the stage for South Carolina to elect a black person to the U.S. Senate for the first time.
In Maine, Tea Party favorite Bruce Poliquin defeated Kevin Raye, a former state Senate president, in the Republican primary to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud. State Sen. Emily Cain defeated fellow state Sen. Troy Jackson for the Democratic nomination.
Voters in Nevada were picking a Democratic nominee to face Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, and deciding whether Sandoval would have the lieutenant governor he wants, state Sen. Mark Hutchison, or run for re-election with former Senate contender Sue Lowden at his side.
In North Dakota, voters were weighing whether to give elections officials more time to review signatures trying to force a ballot measure. North Dakota allows ballot measures to be filed 90 days from an election, but is considering a 120-day window.
Information for this article was contributed by Derek Wallbank, Jonathan Allen and Greg Giroux of Bloomberg News; by Meg Kinnard, Alan Suderman, David Espo, Philip Elliott, David Pace, Erica Werner, Larry O'Dell, Steve Szkotak, Michael Felberbaum and staff members of The Associated Press; by Jonathan Martin of The New York Times; and by Robert Costa, David A Fahrenthold, Laura Vozzella and staff members of The Washington Post.
A Section on 06/11/2014
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