Cantor sees Republican split

But GOP chairman says House majority leader wrong

Monday, June 16, 2014

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, said Sunday that he sees a troublesome division within the Republican Party.

His comments came while he discussed his primary defeat, which many are assessing for possible evidence that the Tea Party is regaining steam among Republicans.

"I think that [is] what we need to focus on, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to do something about, bridging this divide," he said during an appearance on ABC's This Week. "There is a divide within our party."

Cantor also said in a separate interview on CNN's State of the Union that the party's internal struggle "pales in comparison" to its differences with Democrats.

Cantor would not identify any particular reason for his loss last week, although he said it took him by surprise.

"I don't think anybody in the country thought that the outcome would be what it was," he said.

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, denied Sunday that Cantor's loss signals a split within the party.

"I don't think it's divided at all," he said on CBS' Face the Nation. "I think you have districts that are 85 percent Republican and more than one Republican wants to be a congressman, and sometimes more than one person wants to be a senator."

Serving as majority leader "takes you out all over this country, takes you out of your district, and pretty soon, that good work you're doing nationally becomes a liability locally," Priebus said.

Cantor again defended his stance on immigration, which David Brat, his opponent and a little-known college economics professor, has called soft. Cantor emphasized that he has always opposed "comprehensive amnesty" but also supported an option for children brought to the United States by their guardians.

"My position on immigration has not changed," he said on CNN. "It was the way it was before the primary, during and now.

"Did that infuriate folks on both sides? Sure," Cantor said on ABC. "But it is the principled position. I think an incremental reform approach to immigration is what we need."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who defeated several Tea Party challengers in South Carolina's primary last week, said on CBS that Republicans need to adopt a stance on a legal pathway to citizenship.

"I don't think Eric got beat because of his stand on immigration," he said. "I think he got beat because his lack of defining himself on immigration."

Defeating Cantor, a seven-term House member, is the Tea Party's biggest win since it grew out of U.S. responses to the 2008 financial crisis.

Brat also criticized Cantor for voting to increase the federal borrowing limit.

He defeated Cantor by 11 percentage points in the primary, which drew more than 65,000 voters compared with 47,000 in the 2012 Republican primary. Cantor won 28,902 votes in the election, down 23 percent from 37,369 in 2012.

Hoping to minimize infighting, Cantor quickly announced last week that he would resign as majority leader, setting up Republican leadership elections Thursday. Cantor is supporting Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California, the third-ranking House Republican, to succeed him as majority leader.

But Idaho Republican Raul Labrador's bid for the No. 2 leadership spot in the House gives the Tea Party another shot at beating Cantor.

Labrador, a 46-year-old lawyer serving just his second term, is the underdog in challenging McCarthy, 49, for the job.

Information for this article was contributed by Emmarie Huetteman of The New York Times and by Greg Giroux, Jesse Hamilton and Michael C. Bender of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 06/16/2014