House Majority Leader Eric Cantor may have annoyed voters in his Virginia district with his "sense of importance" that included using a security entourage larger than the ones most governors have, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said, citing it as a possible factor in Tuesday's surprise primary loss.
On
Thursday's "Morning Joe" program, a panel speculated that Cantor's primary election loss on Tuesday to newcomer David Brat may have come from voters' personal dislike of Cantor, making his loss more of a personality matter than a referendum on incumbent lawmakers.
"I think we should say it," Scarborough said. "We don't judge him one way or the other and we don't know, perhaps he got death threats. But he showed up on our set with a security entourage larger than most governors. He had like three security guys, I think."
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The security detail emphasized Cantor's "sense of importance," said Scarborough. "We looked at him when he came in, and I like Eric [Cantor] a lot, but saw the security people there and sort of the sense of importance. And it was fine with us, we didn't even say anything at the time. But if you're going around your district acting that way? Not good."
The New York Times' Jeremy Peters, also on the Morning Joe Panel, said Cantor was flawed because he stayed away from his district too much, and the voters noticed.
"The issue with Eric Cantor as a flawed candidate in this instance is that it wasn't just that he didn't spend time back home, there was a deep antipathy towards him," Peters said. "Tea party voters just did not like him.
Many people overlook the fact that Richmond, Va., has one of the "most organized tea party groups in the country," said Peters. "People would tell me stories about him showing up at events with his security entourage and it rubbed voters there the wrong way. So I think this is a very specific example of an election. And I would not overstate these lessons elsewhere."
On Wednesday, the day after Cantor's loss, Scarborough also said the race was more about Cantor's neglecting his district than about party trends,
reports Politico.
But Scarborough, who was a Republican congressman from Florida, said the race was more about Cantor neglecting his constituents than larger party trends.
"Sometimes, you just have these guys that go to Washington … that just get out of touch with their voters at home," said Scarborough.
"So, before we oversell this as an anti-immigration vote and a huge victory for the tea party, maybe we should look closer at the two candidates here actually running the race."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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