There's been a grassroots revolt in the 7th Congressional District in Virginia of the #2 guy in the House Leadership. Needless to say, this is quite epic and newsworthy. Considering the Establishment insiders have done fairly well in recent primary challenges, this upcoming one could have great bragging rights for the grassroots base going into 2014. I've been to many district, county and state conventions as a delegate and have been a part of the power struggle to increase pro-liberty shareholder stakes in our republican party. We almost toppled the sitting state chair at the last state convention but lost by a few % points despite them spending $300k and our guy less than $10k. However, our newest district chair and the super majority of our district and state cmtepersons are all pro-Rand Paul as are many other districts in MI.
Cantor’s campaign had bought out all of the rooms in the hotel so his challenger, conservative college professor Dave Brat had to plan his rally across the street from the hotel at a Honey Baked Ham store. Cantor’s team bused in delegates on tour buses who lived some distance from Richmond.
The convention was severely divided. Lynwood Cobb, the incumbent who was supported by Cantor, was challenged by Fred Gruber, a Tea Party favorite.
Dave Brat
Dave Brat
The first course of business was to elect a temporary chairman for the convention. Eric Cantor’s team supported Virginia Delegate Manoli Loupassi. Gruber’s team nominated one candidate, Russ Moulton, who was ruled to be ineligible for the office. The team scrambled to find a second candidate who lost the vote.
As Loupassi took the podium, it looked like Cantor and his forces would carry the day.
As the vote for Chairman happened, Cantor’s challenger was given the opportunity to speak to the convention. His supporters cheered him loudly, to the surprise of the Cantor people. Brat challenged Cantor on his dishonest ads and his refusal to debate.
Then Cantor was given the opportunity to speak.
Any illusions that the convention was going his way were quickly dissolved as Cantor was loudly booed by Tea Party activists and others supporting Dave Brat and Fred Gruber. Chants of “Liar” and “Debate” were heard through the large convention room.
Cantor was visibly flustered and very visibly angered at the reception he received. Immediately after his speech, he left.
The ultimate shock came when the votes were counted. The Republican Party of Virginia uses a weighted voting system that favors counties that have larger Republican turn out.
When the votes were counted, Fred Gruber had defeated Cantor’s hand picked Chairman Lynwood Cobb, 675.8 to 630. (The .8 is because of the weighting formula).
After the convention, some Cantor supporters left gracefully, congratulating Gruber supporters for the win. Others stormed away. More than one was heard to threaten to pull their money from the GOP because Cantor’s hand picked Chairman lost.
Many in the grassroots have neither forgotten about nor forgiven the establishment for not supporting the conservative Republican ticket for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general last year. All three lost.
For Cantor, this can be nothing short of a red alert moment. The base of his power in Virginia has been cracked. Cantor’s team could not turn out enough voters for his people to keep control of the 7th District.
On June 10th, Virginia will hold its congressional primaries. It is the live or die moment for Eric Cantor. There is no Democrat on the ballot so the winner of the primary wins all.
http://www.teapartynation.com/forum/topics/eric-cantor-and-the-establishment-s-stunning-lossCheck this guy out and donate if ya want.
http://davebratforcongress.com/
