The Lesson For Liberals And Progressives In The Eric Cantor Defeat

Buh-bye, Eric:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated Tuesday by a little-known economics professor in Virginia’s Republican primary, a stunning upset and major victory for the tea party.

Cantor is the second-most powerful member of the U.S. House and was seen by some as a possible successor to the House speaker.

His loss to Dave Brat, a political novice with little money marks a huge victory for the tea party movement, which supported Cantor just a few years ago.

Brat had been a thorn in Cantor’s side on the campaign, casting the congressman as a Washington insider who isn’t conservative enough. Last month, a feisty crowd of Brat supporters booed Cantor in front of his family at a local party convention.

His message apparently scored well with voters in the 7th District.

“There needs to be a change,” said Joe Mullins, who voted in Chesterfield County Tuesday. The engineering company employee said he has friends who tried to arrange town hall meetings with Cantor, who declined their invitations.

Tiffs between the GOP’s establishment and tea party factions have flared in Virginia since tea party favorite Ken Cuccinelli lost last year’s gubernatorial race. Cantor supporters have met with stiff resistance in trying to wrest control of the state party away from tea party enthusiasts, including in the Cantor’s home district.

Brat teaches at Randolph-Macon College, a small liberal arts school north of Richmond. He raised just more than $200,000 for his campaign, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. Prominent national tea party groups did spend independently to help Brat.

Brat offset the the cash disadvantage with endorsements from conservative activists like radio host Laura Ingraham, and with help from local tea party activists angry at Cantor.

The teacher tenure story in California remains the biggest story of the day, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor getting knocked off by a Tea Partier is a pretty close second.

You can bet Cantor's defeat will catch the notice of GOP insiders and party stalwarts.

Contrast what happened to Cantor tonight with the surrender the Working Families Party did on the Cuomo endorsement last month.

Until people on the left start taking these smarmy corporate Dems out the way the Tea Party just took out the smarmy Cantor, corporate Dems will continue to take the left for granted, will say anything they need to in order to get votes, then pull a full betrayal as soon as the election is over.

You start primarying a few of these corporate Dems and knocking a couple of them off and you can bet they'll stop taking you for granted.

It's a shame the left hasn't learned this lesson yet - not in 2012 with Obama, not in 2014 with Cuomo.

Maybe the left will learn it someday.

But probably not.