See my comment upthread #44.
Most libertarian-minded candidates believe in “free movement of people” and are MORE pro-open borders than mainstream conservatives (they’re against taxpayer funded goodies for illegals but have no problems with open borders otherwise), regardless of what they claim on the campaign trail to get elected.
Read about what happened to “true conservative” Jason Chaffetz after he defeated pro-amnesty congressmen Chris Cannon in Utah. Chaffetz presented himself as an “anti-amnesty” candidate and hammered the point home because that was the lone issue Cannon sucked on. Numerous freepers, including myself, rejoiced when Chaffetz won. Then he flip-flopped on amnesty and has voted to the LEFT of the guy he replaced. Chaffetz is another guy who was a former Dem that marketed himself as a solid tea party type to win a primary.
All I can say is Brat has been very consistent on his anti-amnesty stance. He’s against for economic reasons - downward pressure on wages, unemployment, utter devastation to entitlements. He has been a lifelong R so I don’t know that he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Yes, he could turn out to be a disappointment. But we are already fed up with Cantor. I am not convinced that Brat, even if he turned out to be a disappointment, would be any worse than the RINO we already have.