The shock waves from the stunning defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) reverberated quickly across the Republican Party Tuesday night, as tea party and establishment strategists tried to assess the possible impact on upcoming primaries and on the overall state of the GOP.
The results from Virginia emboldened tea party advocates and enthusiasts, who suffered several high-profile defeats in intraparty contests this spring. It also put the establishment on notice that the long-running struggle inside the party will continue beyond this year’s campaigns and into the 2016 elections. …
One Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to offer a candid assessment of the implications of Tuesday’s shocker, said, “The real impact comes in 2015 and ’16 as even more incumbents get primaries. There will be blood in the streets.” CONT.
Dan Balz & Philip Rucker, Washington Post