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Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) lost his primary election to a candidate who “basically ran against immigrants” and called for a “more informed” debate on immigration reform. "The negative attitudes about immigration and immigrants, which we are seeing played out in certain places in our country politically are based on a gross misunderstanding," Clinton said during an interview in Chicago with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Concerned that DC Republicans might begin listening to voters rather than Karl Rove, an always sympathetic White House told stunned GOP leaders that “Cantor’s problem wasn’t his position on immigration reform, it was his lack of a position.” That is, Cantor wasn’t too liberal and he had not offended the conservative, Republican base with his promise of passing amnesty or his contemptuous decision to headline an April conference hosted by George Soros and organized labor. In fact if anything, the now defunct Virginia congressman had been TOO conservative! After all, hadn’t Cantor’s campaign sent out direct-mail pieces just before last...

Eric Cantor’s loss is historic. No sitting House majority leader has lost an election since the office was created in 1899. While Cantor’s loss was a stunning surprise, the warning signals were around for a while: 1. Cantor managed to muddle his message on immigration. His direct-mail pieces claimed he was foursquare against amnesty.

Late Tuesday evening, conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham savored David Brat's historic upset victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in Virginia's 7th Congressional District Republican primary. "This was a cataclysmic upending of the old Republican Guard. A strong, substantive, passionate, earnest conservative flattened an arrogant, out of touch, two-faced, moderate Eric Cantor," Ingraham told Breitbart News shortly after the Associated Press declared Brat the victor. Brat, who was not expected to win more than 40 percent of the vote, thumped Cantor by an astounding 55 percent to 44 percent margin. He won going away in a race...

... Behind the scenes, Mr. Cantor worked hard over the last year to wrestle control of the party back from a small band of insurgents and steer it back to the political center on issues from immigration to the economy. Now, his defeat serves as a battle cry for conservatives everywhere who, until now, were in danger of losing their clout inside the party. A case in point: Milton Wolf, the conservative challenging Republican Sen. Pat Roberts in Kansas this year, immediately issued a statement Tuesday night to say, “Eric Cantor isn’t the only incumbent from Virginia who is going...

The No. 1 GOP leader and the No. 3 GOP leader in the House reacted remarkably differently Tuesday night to the stunning defeat of the No. 2 GOP leader, Eric Cantor. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) stuck to his usual routine by hanging out with close friends and aides at an Italian restaurant that he likes -- in part because they let him smoke in a private room. Back at the U.S. Capitol, aides to House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) frantically huddled deep into the night. Were they plotting his next move? No one was talking.

David Brat’s surprise victory Tuesday over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was quickly embraced by the tea party movement – especially national tea party groups that have been looking to score a big win in their battle against GOP incumbents this cycle. Leaders of the Tea Party Patriots quickly chimed in on Twitter. So how much did their groups spend to help Brat win? Zero. Of the measly $4,805 in political expenditures against Cantor reported to the Federal Election Commission, none came from the big national tea party groups, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation. The bulk...

Eric Cantor’s loss is historic. No sitting House majority leader has lost an election since the office was created in 1899. While Cantor’s loss was a stunning surprise, the warning signals were around for a while: 1. Cantor managed to muddle his message on immigration. His direct-mail pieces claimed he was foursquare against amnesty. But the newspapers covering Washington, D.C., quoted him as saying he was seeking a compromise with President Obama on immigration. Voters resolved the seeming contradiction by deciding to vote out their establishment congressman. Cantor’s loss destroys any chance of a comprehensive immigration bill passing the House...

The conservative economics professor topples the House Majority Leader in a stunning upsetThe bespectacled college professor who toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary Tuesday earned a masters of divinity from Princeton with a thesis on the philosophical doctrine of logical positivism. He was a rare breed of giant slayer: the kind that nobody saw coming. “God acted through people on my behalf,” Dave Brat told Fox News after his win. “The issue is the Republican Party has been paying too much attention to Wall Street, and not enough attention to Main Street.” When the votes were...

As conservatives begin to wrap their heads around the shocking primary defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, at least one member of the coup to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner doesn’t think an open spot in leadership will strengthen Boehner’s hand come the 114th Congress. Just minutes after Cantor’s defeat was official on Tuesday night, Rep. Tim Huelskamp told CQ Roll Call that Cantor’s ouster “bodes well for an entire new leadership team.” The Kansas Republican, who hasn’t been quiet about his qualms with leadership, said it’s “too early to tell” exactly how this affects leadership races, “but, again,...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his Republican primary Tuesday in a stunning defeat to Dave Brat, a little-known tea party-backed challenger, in one of the biggest upsets in recent political history. Mr. Brat, an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College who called his win a “miracle,” defeated Mr. Cantor by 56 percent to 44 percent with all precincts reporting. CNN and The Associated Press called the race just a little over an hour after Virginia polls closed at 7 p.m. “Obviously, we came up short,” Mr. Cantor told supporters at his headquarters at the Westin Hotel in the state capital....

Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost in stunning fashion Tuesday night to tea party challenger Dave Brat. And Sen. Ted Cruz’s staff appears to be pretty celebratory on Twitter in response. The senator and the majority leader have clashed before, most notably over Obamacare. Here are tweets from three top staffers. Cruz’s speechwriter and senior communications adviser: Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter Follow VA #MakesDCListen ReplyRetweetFavorite Cruz’s chief of staff: Chip Roy @chiproytx Follow Is DC Listening yet? #MakeDCListen ReplyRetweetFavorite Cruz’s press secretary, responding to a tweet from Erick Erickson on stories about the “Tea Party dying” in the mainstream media: @...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in a Republican primary Tuesday, conceding his Virginia seat to a local activist after a stunning loss with possibly dramatic consequences for leadership, the chances of any immigration overhaul passing Congress and the future of his party. He is the first majority leader ever to fall in primary defeat — the position was created in 1899. Cantor, toppled by college economics professor Dave Brat, 56 percent to 44 percent, conceded just after The Associated Press declared the race over. Democratic and Republican leadership aides expressed total disbelief and dumbfoundedness Tuesday night. Political operatives...

Jun. 10, 2014 - 5:07 - Brat reacts to 'political earthquake'

A Senior Republican leadership aide described the mood as "chaos for the leadership ranks." "We're absolutely stunned. Honestly, we really can't believe it," said the aide, who likened it to the 2004 election defeat of Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who was Senate minority leader at the time. "Given the speculation Boehner himself may decide not to run again for speaker, the idea had been out there that Cantor would simply walk into the speakership," said the aide. "But now, who the hell would be the next speaker?"—particularly, the aide added.

Jun. 10, 2014 - 7:17 - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor loses to tea party-backed candidate Dave Brat

In a stunning turn of events, conservative upstart Dave Brat has defeated House Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for Virginia’s seventh congressional district. Immigration played a decisive role in this primary. The apparent willingness of some House Republicans to work with the White House to pass an immigration package that includes a mass legalization and expanded guest-worker programs has infuriated many moderates and conservatives, especially those who want to reinvigorate the electoral fortunes of the Republican party with a renewed focus on economic opportunity and middle-class uplift. Claiming that the House Republican leadership’s immigration “principles” constituted “amnesty,” Brat...

First - You have to fight your battles one at a time. We needed to STOP the Republicans on their Amnesty roll this session of Congress (first). We likely did that by defeating Cantor. Think about it - the Republican leadership taps a low level House Republican from Manville Arkansas (for example) who's been on the fence about Amnesty. They say to him: "We REALLY need your vote here to pass Amnesty and we know you're considering it. Well, House elections are every two years, so it won't be long before his next Primary. He knows that a vote for...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who was in line to be the next House Speaker, shockingly lost his primary Tuesday to economics professor Dave Brat. In knocking Cantor off and shocking Washington and the GOP establishment, voters in Virginia's seventh congressional district may have killed amnesty legislation in this Congress. The Associated Press called the race for Brat at 8:03 PM EST with around 85% of the vote in and Brat leading 55.8% to 44.2%. In the final weeks of the campaign, Brat made the race completely about amnesty and open borders, saying a vote for Cantor would be...

How did the No. 2 man in the House lose a primary? Chalk it up to immigration and the Tea Party. It’s one of the most shocking losses in U.S. electoral history—and it’s bad for America. Here’s the thing: Eric Cantor did not fall asleep in this race. He spent around $5 million. He ran lots of TV ads. He knew this was going to be a close one. He campaigned. And he still got creamed. And here’s the other thing: Cantor was not an enemy of the Tea Party. He was in fact the Tea Party’s guy in the...