Death of the 'Tea Party is Dead' Narrative

Tea Party candidate Dave Brat trouncing of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is a great American story that shows elections and people matter. It was a low turnout in one Congressional District (Virginia-7), but it has national reach.

Eric Cantor (HouseMajorityLeader.gov)

This comes a week after Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel all but defeated the establishment Republican Sen. Thad Cochran in Mississippi. 

This wipes away some of the so called "Empire Strikes Back" glee of establishment GOP victories across the country, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell destroying his Tea Party challenger in Kentucky.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

"I'm as stunned as anybody," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "I've yet to find one person nationally or in the state outside the Brat circle who thought Cantor would be beaten." 

"This is one of the most stunning upsets in modern American political history," Sabato said. "This is the base rebelling against the GOP leadership in Washington as represented by Eric Cantor." 

"Everybody agrees that if immigration reform was on life support before, they're pulling out the plugs," because no other House Republican will want to end up like Cantor, Sabato said. 

"The Republican electorate has become very conservative and that was demonstrated in conventions like last year," and occasionally in primaries, Sabato said.