Eric Cantor is re-engaging in national politics just as the Republican 2016 primary is heating up — and it’s hardly by accident.
The former House majority leader is in regular contact with the four potential GOP presidential candidates that he believes would put his party in the best position to win the White House and turn the page on eight years under President Obama. In a field he described as deep with heavyweights, Cantor’s favorites are Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker — and he didn’t rule out endorsing at some point down the road.
What the Virginian has already ruled in is participating in the campaign to elect a Republican president in 2016, whether through his lucrative network of longtime donors and bundlers, or advising on conservative domestic and foreign policy reforms.
“I still care about our country,” Cantor told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday during a wide-ranging interview. “I am troubled by what I see as a lack of leadership that has been demonstrated by the executive branch.”
In a half-hour discussion, Cantor emphasized that his first responsibility is doing his job as vice chairman of the investment-banking firm Moelis & Co. He seemed at ease and excited about his private sector gig and hardly envious about missing yet another showdown over government funding (this time for the Department of Homeland Security) happening blocks away from his new Washington office, situated midway between Capitol Hill and the White House.
But it was clear that Cantor, who still calls Richmond, Va., home, hasn’t lost the political bug that motivated him to seek elected office and serve as a party leader. During 14 years in Congress, including two years as House Minority whip and four years as House Majority leader, Cantor was among the nation’s most prominent elected Jewish officials — certainly the country’s most influential elected Jewish Republican.
Over six years in leadership Cantor raised approximately $200 million for the party through various organizations he was responsible for supporting. That’s just one reason he would be a valuable get for any GOP presidential primary campaign. Among others: He knows how Washington works; he’s on speed dial with some of the biggest players in government and business; he has keen foreign policy acumen at a time when overseas issues could shape the political landscape.
“I want to continue to help in whatever way I can,” Cantor said. “Given the privilege I’ve had serving as majority leader, know the process, the way I learned, [I] certainly want to be helpful.”
The political operations of Cantor’s favorite four likely presidential candidates all confirmed strong relationships with the former congressman and a desire to work closely with him in the ensuing months. Of the four, Bush, the former Florida governor; Christie, the New Jersey governor; and Rubio, the Florida senator, are particularly close to Cantor personally. Cantor’s relationship with Walker, the Wisconsin governor, is more recent.
Cantor called all four “the kinds of candidates I think demonstrate that the Republican Party and the conservative movement are both very serious about saying that enough is enough — the country does need to regain its confidence and have some real thrust towards growth, towards leadership in the future.”
Here’s what Cantor had to say about each of them individually:
• Jeb Bush: “He clearly brings to the table a track record of conservative accomplishments in Florida; brings to the table a very well thought-out policy agenda. I’ve worked with him on the issue of education reform throughout the years … Obviously Jeb’s talked a lot about the need for us to appreciate, not only as Republicans but as Americans, that we have a diverse country and we’re going to have to look solve this question that continues to hang out there about the increasingly diverse population and that we are a country of immigrants while being a country of laws.”
• Chris Christie: “Chris Christie brings to the table an experience in a very blue state that’s obviously not void of some really rough politics, but an individual that can connect with working, middle class people, and I think we’ve seen that [time] and again when he’s in a crowd to be able to sort of convey to a single mom that’s trying to juggle raising kids and going to work everyday … Chris Christie can bring to the table, he can be a figure that somebody like that can look to and say, ‘He gets me; he’s got my back.’”
• Marco Rubio: “Marco Rubio clearly is a very dynamic public figure for us. He’s young, he’s obviously very articulate and somebody, who with a Hispanic background, does add a tremendous amount to what it means to be a Republican for us to begin to reach out to a more diverse electorate. He has taken some very strong positions foreign policy-wise in this latest ongoing difficulty with Iran … His experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee I think can add a lot to the debate. I do think foreign policy will be a more important element of the discussion in ’16 than it has been in cycles past.”
• Scott Walker: “I just spoke with Scott Walker last week, and I think what he brings to the table is executive experience in a very competitive state that has a leadership style that’s proven successful; not afraid to ruffle some feathers but do so in a very decent way. I think he brings a lot on that front, certainly how he reformed the, sort of the, labor laws of Wisconsin and to try and make it a more productive and growth-oriented state.”
