Eric Cantor loses to David Brat in primary, Lindsey Graham holds on
House of Representatives veteran Eric Cantor lost in the Republican primary sending shockwaves across the political landscape Tuesday. Senator Lindsey Graham survived a crowded group of challengers in South Carolina to earn the GOP nod.
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With just over $200,000, David Brat, a professor at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va.,beat Cantor by repeatedly criticizing him for being soft on immigration and contending that he supported what critics call amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally.
“The American people want to pay attention to serious ideas again,” Mr. Brat said, speaking on Fox News. “Our founding was built by people who were political philosophers, and we need to get back to that, away from this kind of cheap political rhetoric of right and left.”
Democrat Jack Trammell, also a professor at Randolph-Macon, will challenge Brat this fall in the heavily Republican district.
Meanwhile in South Carolina, Lindsey Graham has faced similar criticisms on immigration, but managed to avoid a runoff and earn the needed 50% of the vote.
“Leadership and problem solving comes with some political risk. You get a bunch of people running against you, but I’m here to tell you, it’s very much worth it,” Graham said in his victory speech.
Lee Bright finished second in the race, with a slew of others in single digits.
South Carolina Republican consultant Joel Sawyer told CNN that Graham was facing off “against an incredibly weak field of competitors, and of course he benefited by having the ‘not Lindsey’ vote split among several folks.”
“Second, to Lindsey’s credit, he ran a great campaign. I think the assumption among a lot of people was that he’d solely wage an air war, but I’ve been impressed with the way he also ran a traditional, grassroots-focused campaign in addition to a compelling broadcast message. And Lindsey himself spent a lot of time on the ground here holding events and interacting one-on-one with voters,” Sawyer added.
