- It’s difficult to stress too much what a small election Eric Cantor-David Brat was in terms of reflecting any larger picture about America and how disproportionate the ramifications will likely be. The final vote tally was 36,120 for Brat and 28,907 for Cantor. That’s barely more than 65,000 ballots cast. It’s in no way a bellwether of America nor of Virginia outside of the 7th Congressional District. It probably says as much about universal dislike of the soon-to-be-deposed Majority Leader as anything else. But because of the stunning nature of the upset, it will likely tilt the GOP further right at a time when the Tea Party pull had been flagging. Smooth sailing for Lindsey Graham against party “purists” won’t make a ripple against Cantor’s Titanic. It certainly will make governance more difficult for President Obama for the rest of his term, but his goal of establishing a transformative administration rather than a transitional one has always been somewhat predicated on having a Democrat succeed him. This jolt to the right for Republicans makes that more likely, especially with the sharp demographic challenges that they have in national elections where gerrymandered districts can’s serve as a bulwark. Nothing could be more satisfying than Cantor being done in by the extremists he marshaled to scuttle good government, but his loss will likely be given far greater significance than it should.•
Tags: Barack Obama, David Brat, Eric Cantor