Slingshot: The Defeat of Eric Cantor / Edition 1

by Lauren Cohen Bell, David Elliot Meyer, Ronald Keith Gaddie

Overview

Incumbents don't lose. So how did nationally prominent House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lose a primary battle to college professor David Brat, an unknown political rookie? In Slingshot: The Defeat of Eric Cantor, authors Lauren Cohen Bell, David Elliot Meyer and Ronald Keith Gaddie take advantage of exceptional behind-the-scenes access to the Brat campaign to explain the challenger’s victory. They examine the essential need for elected officials to maintain strong support in their home districts and just how Cantor’s focus on climbing the party ranks in Washington contributed to his loss. They also show how local “rules of the game” —particularly voter mobilization in this case—affect elections, and they explore the continuing impact of the Tea Party and its role in the factionalism of current Southern politics.

“This is a book that needed to be written. Eric Cantor’s defeat was not only shocking but it runs against everything we teach in our election courses. By extracting the lessons from Cantor’s defeat, Slingshot helps to inform our more general understanding of campaigns & elections.”

-Professor Kirby Goidel, Texas A&M University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506311968
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	11/24/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Lauren C. Bell is Professor of Political Science and Dean of Academic Affairs at Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Virginia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Wooster and Masters of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at The University of Oklahoma. Bell previously served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and a United States Supreme Court fellow at the United States Sentencing Commission in Washington, DC.

Dr. Bell is the author of Filibustering in the U.S. Senate (Cambria Press, 2011), Warring Factions: Interest Groups, Money, and the New Politics of Senate Confirmation (The Ohio State University Press, 2002) and The U.S. Congress, A Simulation for Students (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005) as well as co-author of Perspectives on Political Communication: A Case Approach (Allyn & Bacon, 2008). In addition to these books, she has published single- and co-authored articles in several peer-reviewed journals, including The Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of Legislative Studies, The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and Judicature.

David Elliot Meyer serves as a Special Assistant in the Office of Governor Terence R. Mc Auliffe. He graduated from Randolph-Macon College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science. Elliot participated in the 2014 Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship and presented his research paper, Crashing the Tea Party: The Effects of the Tea Party on U.S. House of Representative Elections at the 2015 Southern Political Science Association Conference.

Ronald Keith Gaddie is President's Associates Presidential Professor & Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma, associate director of the OU Center for Intelligence and National Secturity, and editor of Social Science Quarterly. He previously taught at Tulane University and Centre College. Keith received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia (1993) and his undergraduate degree from Florida State University (1987). He has published over 20 books on campaign politics, election law, sports, and fiction, including The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act (2016); The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics (2015); Politics in America, 10th & 11th eds (2014, 2016) ; Georgia Politics in a State of Change, 1st & 2d eds. (2009, 2013); Ghosts on Vintners Landing: A Novel (2010); The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South (2009, winner of the V. O. Key Award); and University of Georgia Football (2008).

Table of Contents

About the Authors viii

Preface ix

Chapter 1 The Cantor Case in Context 1

Journalists versus Political Scientists 2

Placing Cantor's Defeat into Context 3

Nominating Candidates 3

The Rules of the Game in Virginia 4

Incumbent Defeats 6

Post-Redistricting Loss 8

Waves, Parties, and Incumbents 8

Southern Volatility 9

Quality Challengers 10

Nomination Format 13

Scandal 13

Targeted for Defeat 16

Sophomores and Seniors 17

Tea Party Challenges 18

"Git 'Em Alone" 19

Summary 20

The Cast of Characters 20

The Challenger: David Brat 21

The Manager: Zachary Werrell 22

Linwood Cobb, Fred Gruber, and the Seventh District Republican Committee 23

Jamie Radtke 26

Local Tea Party Activists 27

Plan of the Book 28

Chapter 2 Eric Cantor and the Giant Slayer 31

June 10, 2014-Primary Election Night in Virginia 31

When Leaders Lose 33

Virginia and the South 36

The Virginia Seventh and Redistricting 40

Summary 45

Chapter 3 David and Goliath 47

Eric Cantor 48

The Jewish Question 49

In the Virginia Genera! Assembly 53

From the House of Delegates to Capitol Hill 62

David Brat 63

Randolph-Macon College 64

Senator Walter Stosch 67

Brat's First Foray 68

Summary 69

Chapter 4 Lost between DC and Richmond 71

Life on Capitol Hill 72

The Three Phases of a Career 76

Cantor's Early Years (2001-2004) 77

Cantor's Midcareer Years (2005-2010) 81

The Young Guns 83

The Tea Party 84

Shifting Priorities 85

Cantor's Final Two Terms (2011-2014) 88

Abandoning Home 89

The Importance of Money 93

The One Percent: Cantor's Other Cash 99

A Challenger Emerges 100

Summary 102

Chapter 5 The Primary Contest 105

Cantor's Missteps 108

"Don't Piss Off the Grassroots" 110

The Brat Campaign 113

The Bipartisan Effort 115

Running from Behind 116

The Ingraham Rally 117

Election Day 118

Democratic Crossover Voting 120

Summary 122

Chapter 6 The Aftermath 125

The Media (and Everyone Else) Missed the Signs 126

It's (Not) Immigration, Stupid 128

Will He or Won't He? 131

The Majority Leader Steps Down 132

Cantor's Resignation 133

The Consequences 135

Summary 137

Chapter 7 Conclusions 139

Tip O'Neill Was Right 140

Lesson #1 Homestyles Matter 141

Lesson #2 The Inadequacy of First Impressions 144

Lesson #3 The Other Candidate Can Be Strategic 146

Lesson #4 The New Southern Factionalism 147

Lesson #5 Campaigns Matter 148

Lesson #6 The Big Sort and the Danger of the New Homogeneity 150

Lesson #7 The Tea Party Is Not Monolithic 151

Lesson #8 Leadership and Risk 152

Lesson #9 Lessons for Political Scientists and the Pundit Class 154

Parting Thoughts 155

Epilogue: The 2014 General Election and a Look toward 2016 157

Brat Versus Trammell 157

Brat's Early Career in Congress 163

A Look Ahead to 2016 164

The Last Word, For Now 168

Notes 171

Bibliography 195

Index 201

Editorial Reviews

This book does a great job of taking a remarkable incumbent defeat and embedding it into the greater framework of congressional elections scholarship. Its strengths are twofold: (1) greatly detailing an important, highly unusual, and historic incumbent defeat, and (2) placing this remarkable event within a body of scholarship that clearly explains why such an unlikely event was in fact very likely to occur. This book differentiates itself from other books because of the unique case study it evaluates.”

Professor Seth Mc Kee

This is a book that needed to be written. Eric Cantor’s defeat was not only shocking but it runs against everything we teach in our election courses. By extracting the lessons from Cantor’s defeat, Slingshot helps to inform our more general understanding of campaigns and elections. Bell, Meyer, and Gaddie skillfully walk us through the campaign explaining first why the Cantor defeat never should have happened and then why—seemingly against all odds—it did. The story powerfully captures the dynamic tension between policy-making and representation, and is a reminder than even in an age of polarized politics and nationalized election campaigns ‘all politics is local.’”

Professor Kirby Goidel

The book is well written, easy to read, and will certainly hold your attention. The authors display considerable knowledge of the political science literature and a keen awareness of modern American politics.”

Professor Gibbs Knotts

“This book does a great job of taking a remarkable incumbent defeat and embedding it into the greater framework of congressional elections scholarship. Its strengths are twofold: (1) greatly detailing an important, highly unusual, and historic incumbent defeat, and (2) placing this remarkable event within a body of scholarship that clearly explains why such an unlikely event was in fact very likely to occur. This book differentiates itself from other books because of the unique case study it evaluates.”

Professor Seth McKee