Eric Cantor's Loss Is not the End of the Republican Party

Beaten in a primary election by Dave Brat, an unknown economics professor with no political experience, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor anniunced his resignation as House Majority Leader at the end of July, clearing the way for a Republican leadership shake-up just before midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress for the two years leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Cantor announced his intentions at an emotional closed-door meeting on Wednesday, then made it official at a news conference where he appeared upbeat. Lawmakers in both parties said Cantor's defeat and the prospect of a change within the Republican high command would probably end the possibility of immigration legislation along the lines President Barack Obama is seeking and will also have a negative impact on the balance of his second-term agenda. Fellow Republicans set leadership elections for June 19, assuring that any campaigning would be brief. Even before Cantor's announcement, jockeying had started among fellow Republicans eager to move up the House leadership ladder. But, Cantor has endorsed Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the party whip and third-ranking leader. The only other candidate in the race for Majority Leader is Representative Pete Sessions of Texas. Another Texan who was a serious candidate, Jeb Hensarling, announced today he would not run. Other potential candidates will now be vying for the job of party whip, if Cantor's plan works. Representative Peter Roskam of Illinois, the chief deputy whip, and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana expressed interest in the party whip race to succeed McCarthy. Cantor seemed very much like a man not ready to quit the political scene, saying he will serve out his term and be active this fall for Republican candidates. "What divides Republicans pales in comparison to what divides us as conservatives from the left and their Democratic" allies, he said. Accused by the tea party of being accommodating and not sufficiently conservative and by Democrats for being inflexible, Cantor said he had struck the right balance. "I think that this town should be about trying to strike common ground," he said. But one Republican said he feared the effects of Cantor's defeat could be debilitating for the party and the government. What GOP Congress members worry about is whether Cantor will still raise for them the large amounts of money congressional races require. ~~~~~ But the biggest worry for Republican mid-term candidates, and on into the 2016 presidential race, is immigration reform. And, from the moderate side of the GOP House, Representative Peter King said he was worried that Cantor's stunning loss may lead to even more congressional gridlock : "I'm concerned that Ted Cruz supporters, Rand Paul supporters, are going to use this as an excuse" to shut down the government. King was talking about the immigration legislation issue, on which Brat positioned himsrlf as a foe and said Cantor was likely to help immigrants living in the United States illegally gain amnesty if given a new term in the House. The tea partiers are adament in their opposition to legislation to create a path to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally, and party leaders who are sympathetic to such legislation now will likely be less willing to try. Cantor built up a solidly conservative record while in Congress on matters such as health care and fiscal responsibility, but he was sometimes viewed with suspicion by tea party activists who said he had been in Congress too long and was insufficiently committed to blocking immigration legislation. Many party officials argue that Republicans must temper their hard line on immigration if they are to compete effectively in future presidential elections by bringing Hispanic voters into the GOP. Hillary Clinton has already called Brat a Republican who "basically ran against immigrants." Democrats, underdogs in the struggle for control of the House this fall, sought to cast Cantor's defeat as evidence that the Republican Party and tea party groups were one. Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said yesterday : "any debate over whether the tea party controls the Republican Party has ended." House Speaker John Boehner said that the most important thing for all Republicans to do now and in the coming election campaign period is : "Focus on the thing we all know to be true: The failure of Barack Obama's policies and our obligation to show the American people we offer them not just a viable alternative, but a better future." ~~~~~ Dear readers, politicians live their lives in front of cameras and microphones. And they use them to attract voters and donors by creating their position image on the key issues that reflect their constituency and that tie them to the majority in their party. Eric Cantor has been a brilliant national GOP leader but he apparently forgot about the local Virginia voters who kept returning him to Washington -- and he paid the price. It has been a shock to Republicans and Democrats alike, but Eric Czntor will find a role in the GOP because he is a dedicated conservative who sees politics as the way to bring the benefits of his conservative beliefs to all Americans. And the GOP will get over the shock, elect a new majority leader and continue to serve America by shielding it from the foolhardy leftist fiscal and military and healthcare policies of Barack Obama ans his Democrat Party. Americans will return a GOP majority to the House in Novenbet - and it looks very likely that the GOP will also take the majority position in the Senate. And perhaps it was Eric Cantor's fate to remind Republicans that we are all conservatives - that we all share the same values of personal freedom and responsibility and a small government that serves its citizens without dictating to them. That the Democrats are using the Cantor defeat to announce - once again - the death of the GOP simply shows how desperate they are to find a message that will pull them out of their own self-induced death spiral going into the mid-term elections.