Experts caution against reading too much into a single vote — in a primary ballot in the United States mid-term elections, no less — but the defeat of Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives by the unheralded David Brat is a stunner.
Cantor's loss is a sobering moment for all U.S. politicians and has upended the conventional wisdom about the tea party's slide into oblivion. As a result, Republican candidates will tack right against such challengers. Expect yet more gridlock in Washington for the next two years.
Cantor, a seven-term incumbent, was number two in the Republican Party hierarchy in the House of Representatives and was considered by many to be the real leader of a conservative movement within the GOP. He styled himself as one of his party's "Young Guns," sporting brash new ideas and actively courting tea party voters.