Photo Credit: APThe defeat of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) last week was unparalleled in modern electoral history. Dave Brat, a man with almost no campaign, yet a powerful message, crushed the sitting majority leader while being outspent 42 to 1.
And even while the political carcass of Eric Cantor was still warm, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – Cantor’s next-in-line as whip and a man who share’s the Virginian’s ideological profile – sewed up the nomination for Majority Leader.
McCarthy is generally regarded as a political animal: a shrewd operator without any particular loyalty to any of the ideological factions of the House GOP conference. On immigration, the issue that dominated the debate in the Brat-Cantor race, McCarthy shares Cantor’s support to grant amnesty to illegal aliens brought into the U.S. as minors if they enlist in the military, and is seen by the tech sector as a champion of increasing high-skill visas.
Yet, even with regards to politics, he was widely criticized for signing off on a redistricting plan for California that helped defeat six fellow Republicans. And he’s faced complaints about his whip operation during a tumultuous four years since the Tea Party wave of 2010 swept Republicans into control of the House.
House GOP leadership, anxious to return stability after Cantor’s shocking defeat, ordered the election for the vacant Majority Leader slot about as quickly as feasible. During the one week campaign, McCarthy was never forced to vouch for his position on immigration, especially in light of Cantor’s defeat. He never publicly forged a visionary plan for how he will deliver on the change in direction demanded by the party rank-and-file. He never explained how he plans to use the power of the purse manifest in the House to prevent a lawless president from fully shredding the Constitution in his last two years.
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