On Tuesday, Tea Party-backed economics professor Dave Brat defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in an election that was both historic and surprising. Brat will now face Democratic challenger and fellow professor Jack Trammell in November.
Despite being tremendously outspent in a race that was written off a long time ago by the mainstream media, Brat’s Constitutionally based campaign platform resonated with voters in Virginia’s 7th district who were frustrated with the status quo. On radio this morning, Brat joined Glenn to discuss his victory and what comes next.
Following Brat’s victory, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz wasted no time classifying Brat as one of those pesky right wing extremists:
Tonight’s result in Virginia settles the debate once and for all – the Tea Party has taken control of the Republican Party. Period… It’s clear the GOP has redefined ‘far right.’ Democrats on the other hand have nominated a mainstream candidate who will proudly represent this district and I look forward to his victory in November.
“They are the party that claims they want to work across the aisle. They haven't met me,” Brat said. “Everyone on the news last night is asking, ‘Who's Dave Brat?’ The one thing they know is he's a bad guy – before they even meet me. So how do you work across the aisle when you are sharing that bad blood right up front?”
The narrative in the mainstream media, meanwhile, is that voters were reacting purely to Cantor’s stance on immigration reform and amnesty when they chose to vote for Brat. Glenn asked Brat to explain why he believes he was able to win.
“What happened is pretty simple: You go door-to-door… with a basic premise that is ‘how do you think Washington, D.C. is doing?’ And every single person… said, ‘It's absolutely broken,’” Brat explained. “So then the question is: Who's running D.C.? And the answer is: Eric Cantor and establishment Republicans and Democrats.”
“So amnesty is a big part of that. But it has to do with debt and deficits, not coming back and visiting your constituents, not holding town halls,” he continued. “That's what happened… Our volunteers went out and met with the people. The people spoke. And that's the vote.”
As we watch the Obama Administration continue to act outside of the rule of law on issues ranging from student loans to immigration reform to prisoner exchanges, Glenn asked Brat what can be done to fix the mess that is Washington D.C.
“[Congress] just need to assert [its] representative role and to take back this executive presidency and to take their role back from the judiciary – who is running the country instead of just interpreting the law,” Brat said. “We're lacking true leadership, and we ran on that and we won on that. So the Republican creed is perfectly fine. We just have to follow that Republican creed, and we would do very well. It emphasizes all those American principles we are talking about.”
Ultimately, Brat’s campaign focused on finding solutions to some of the most important issues plaguing this county, and that is what he will continue to discuss ahead of the November general election.
“I’m running 100% Republican on the creed. The Republican principles are great. We need to follow them. A lot of Republicans do – a lot of young blood in there are following that creed. So it is not about personalities. It is about principles. Always has been.”
You can learn more about Brat’s campaign HERE.
TheBlaze Radio Network’s Doc Thompson and Skip LaCombe, who were among the first to give Brat a national platform, also spoke to the congressional candidate this morning. Listen to the interview via The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson below:
Front page image courtesy of the AP
