And will be a small fish in a big pond of a party that is not very happy with him.

No we got lucky and the house Majority Leader wasn't paying attention to his district and paid the price for it. It wasn't that his district thought brat was that great it was that they disliked Cantor that much.

He could have easily kept his seat by paying attention to his district. The town meeting should have been a wake up for him. It was openly hostile.

The new guy might be a little more crazy but he won't have anything near the power.

The guy succeeding to Cantor's leadership position likely will be my Rep., Kevin McCarthy. He might be only slightly more moderate than Cantor, but he's no teabagger.

OP is wrong. Cantor going down is a plus for Democrats. GOP leadership is harmed, and wedges driven deeper into republican civil war.

Every deep red district that sends a crazy person helps to flip 3 purple districts blue.

imagine if it was mostly the bachmanns and gohmerts who spoke for the party .

on Thom Hartmann's show call Brat a "populist", and that his victory was one for populism just because he defeated someone who outspent him. For starters, a person cannot be a RWer and a populist simultaneously. Populists favor policies that put the needs of the working class ahead of the elites. The type of economic policies that Brat has in mind are the same as Cantor's! More of the so-called "freedom", and more pushing of the "how low can I pay my workers" rhetoric.
No, his victory on Tuesday night was a victory for fringe-dwellers and knuckle-draggers.

Thank you, Jamaal!

And randy is right - the guy following him put the "it" in the you know what crazy!

They are, well nuts there they sent Cantor back 6-7 times.

The bottom line is Brat provides another vote for obstruction

Now if the party had any sense they will not try to flip the seat with lots of dollars and resources which could and should be spent in races that can actually be won.

I would like to see a liberal and progressive dem win but it ain't gonna happen Brat will come across as sane and reasonable and plenty of The Reagan Dems will vote for him.

Not enough liberals and progressives in the district to make it worth a battle.

...they were voting against Cantor. Put a stray dog on the ballot and it would have beaten Cantor. It remains to be seen if voters like Brat once they get to know him. IMO, its worth investing some money and professional campaign help to the Dem candidate. First of all, it makes republicans fight for a seat that a week ago was a lock. Second, I suspect Brat might be a gaffe factory... keeping the pressure on improves chances he commits a blunder. Such a blunder can be used against almost all GOP candidates... paint them all with that brush. A big enough blunder, and the Dem has a real chance. It was a big blow to GOP losing Cantor... having to fight to keep that seat, or even losing it, would be an even bigger blow.

It will be the battle of the eggheads so to speak and the Kochs will pay for enough propaganda to make Brat look like he is a PhD on par with Paul Krugman and that Brat went to the Real Princeton too.

Brat also speaks the prosperity gospel nonsense which they, Pubs, love and always blindly support.

The GOP majority will be held in the house hate is a powerful motivator for the GOP base which will increase turnout

Unless the Dems give a REASON to get people to vote besides our guy is not as bad the Pub will win.

I see the district as 57% Rep/ 43% Democratic.

Of the 57%, the tea fringe probably makes up the famous 29%

Run a good Democratic campaign and get a good Democratic turnout. Hope Brat flaps his piehole and causes moderate Repub/Independents to stay home or vote for us and we can eek out a narrow victory.

Virginia is more purple than red.

.... he should be easy to beat.

You know, I wouldn't care if Satan himself were the replacement. First of all, even if this douchebag gets elected, he will be powerless. So we've replaced a certified and proven malefactor with a lot of power with a probable malefactor who will be impotent for at least a while.

Second, any time a long term incumbent gets booted out it makes me happy. Congress was never intended to be a lifetime appointment. the longer anyone serves the more corrupt they get, learning how to play the game, cheat the system, forget their constituents in favor of their large donors.

There is no way this is not a positive IMHO.

since Cantor is gone and we have a chance to pick up a seat.

Those promoting Brat as a populist or revolutionary are either terminally naive or disrupters. There should be no promotion of Brat on DU.

There is a chance that a Democrat just might win this District. Getting rid of Cantor increased our chances considerbly.

The Republicans have lost a major bit of House power, their intraparty politics is in confusion and that's great. The Democrat might win the general. I know you see Republican victory as predetermined, you claim the best we can do is let them retain all power while pretending Cantor is some moderate.
Cantor has voted against civil rights and equality in every possible configuration at every opportunity. Anti gay every time, has a 0% rating from HRC. A low 19% from NAACP and 7% from ACLU. Those ratings represent his votes against other people's rights. His rating from NARAL is 0%, because he is against women's reproductive choice.
So you are promoting a racist, sexist homophobe with a long, long history of racist, sexist and homophobic words and actions. Somehow you see him as better than another racist, sexist homophobe, so much better that you would be fine with his continued leadership powers. I fail to see the qualities in Eric that you find so enthralling.