Eric Cantor defeated: Did big business just lose to the little guy?
Rep. Eric Cantor (R) of Virginia wasn鈥檛 the only Washington giant to suffer a blow Tuesday. So too did the financial industry, a major lobbying presence in D.C. whose top firms had contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the House majority leader鈥檚 primary campaign, only to see him fall to a candidate who views Big Finance with pointed suspicion.
To be sure, the challenger, economics professor David Brat, did not base his campaign solely 鈥� or even mainly 鈥� on financial issues. Rather, a belief that Mr. Cantor had gone soft on illegal immigration pushed some of the Republican base into Mr. Brat鈥檚 column during the GOP primary, analysts say.
Yet, throughout the campaign, the tea party-supported underdog who raised $231,000 to Cantor鈥檚 $5.7 million, also lambasted the incumbent for his close ties to big business and Wall Street, perhaps striking a chord with Republican voters who wanted the grassroots to exert more control over their party鈥檚 agenda, and corporate interests to exert less.
Along these lines, the only national conservative figure who touted Brat before the election, radio host Laura Ingraham, credited the challenger鈥檚 success to 鈥渇ury at the GOP establishment鈥� and Cantor鈥檚 association with corporate executives, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In an interview with radio host Flint Engelman, Brat attacked Cantor for watering down the STOCK Act of 2012, which was designed to bolster insider-trading regulations and add transparency to the financial lobbying process.
According to Politico, Brat also for cozying up to the Business Roundtable and the US Chamber of Commerce, and he once said financial 鈥渃rooks鈥� were in Cantor鈥檚 Rolodex.
鈥淎ll of the investment banks, up in New York and D.C., they should have gone to jail,鈥� he said to a tea party audience in Mechanicsville, Va., in May.
Cantor鈥檚 close ties to Wall Street were reflected in his campaign fund-raising. The Wall Street Journal cited the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics as reporting that Cantor raised $1.4 million from the financial-services industry in this election cycle.
As of Jan. 1, 2014, when the last Federal Election Commission report was released to the public, Cantor鈥檚 three biggest campaign donors were all major investment corporations: the Blackstone Group, which had donated $65,000 over the previous 12 months, Scroggin Capital Management, which had given $40,400, and Goldman Sachs, which had given $26,600.
By contrast, Brat comes across as someone 鈥渨ho sees the real villain as corporate America and its addiction to government largesse,鈥� New Yorker鈥檚 Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza wrote Wednesday. 鈥淏rat is the Elizabeth Warren of the right.鈥�
In a speech to supporters Tuesday night it was perhaps unsurprising that Brat assumed the narrative of a grassroots David overcoming a corporate Goliath. 鈥淲hat you proved tonight is that dollars don鈥檛 vote 鈥� you do,鈥� he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
How durable that grassroots philosophy proves to be remains to be seen, Brat鈥檚 victory notwithstanding.
"We shouldn't make the mistake to think that money doesn't matter a lot,鈥� said Julian Zelizer, a professor of congressional history at Princeton University. 鈥淪ometimes money can be defeated by grassroots pressure, especially in a contest within one district. But in general money still plays a huge role in campaigns and having enough money is a requirement to even compete."
