Cantor faces tea party fury in his back yard
SHORT PUMP, VA. Just a few miles from his family home, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) felt the wrath of the tea party Saturday, when activists in his congressional district booed and heckled the second-most powerful House Republican.
They also elected one of their own to lead Virginias 7th Congressional District Republican Committee, turning their back on Cantors choice for a post viewed as crucial by both tea party and establishment wings in determining control of the fractured state GOP.
Former lieutenant governor Bill Bolling, pushed out of last years governors race by a similar party schism, said he was extremely disappointed by the results of the vote, in which longtime Cantor loyalist and incumbent Linwood Cobb was unseated by tea party favorite Fred Gruber.
Clearly, there is a battle taking place for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, Bolling said in a statement. While the voice of every Republican should be heard, our challenge is to figure out how to be a conservative party, without allowing the most extreme voices of the day to control our party and determine its future direction.
The tea party faction trumpeted the election results as a victory for core conservative principles of limited government, low taxes and a free-market economy.
Theres been an ongoing battle for years between conservatives and establishment, and its a sweet victory when you win but you also win on the front porch of Eric Cantor, said Jamie Radtke, a leader in the state tea party movement and former U.S. Senate candidate.
The first contested election in more than a decade forced the party to move the convention from a high school auditorium to a Hilton ballroom set up for more than 1,200 people.
The district chairman is an internal party post, responsible for rallying activists and volunteers at election time and with the power to influence state party decisions such as whether to hold primaries or conventions to choose party nominees. A chairman is selected only by party activists for each of Virginias 11 congressional districts.
Cantor appeared with his family at the event, where Republicans had packed the house. He was there in part to address his own reelection prospects. He faces David Brat, a tea-party backed opponent, in a June 10 primary that will be open to all voters in the district.
Any sign that Cantors support has slipped among the regions most active Republicans could spell a tougher challenge during next months election. And some of the crowds reaction Saturday when Cantor took a shot at Brat made clear that the Republican majority leader has not yet fully shored up support.
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Cantor faces tea party fury in his back yard