“Eric. Freaking. Cantor.”
That’s how Democratic National Committee Communications Director Mo Elleithee emphasized the major upset Tuesday night of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
“I’ve been working in Virginia politics for a long time, but I’ve never seen anything like what happened tonight,” Elleithee wrote in a fundraising email.
That’s true, no sitting House majority leader has ever lost an election since the position was created in 1899. Cantor’s loss is the worst political upset for a sitting House member since Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., was defeated for re-election in 1994.
I can’t emphasize that enough. Put another way, a position created when William McKinley was president and aspirin had just been trademarked was just lost by an incumbent for the first time.
“Seriously: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor just lost his primary to a Tea Party challenger. Eric Cantor — Eric. Freaking. Cantor. — is officially too moderate to win the nomination of the Republican Party,” Elleithee continued.
After a bit about stopping the Tea Party’s control of the GOP, Elleithee asked for a donation of $3 or more to help “fight the Tea Party.”
DNC Communications Director Mo Elleithee’s fundraising email
“Eric. Freaking. Cantor.”
