Tuesday’s primary defeat of GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia by tea party candidate Dave Brat is the exception, not the rule, according to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who pinned Brat’s victory on a "radically out of touch" incumbent,
Politico reported.
"Sometimes, you just have these guys that go to Washington … that just get out of touch with their voters at home," Scarborough said. "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."
Brat targeted Cantor for his position on immigration, saying he advocates amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Brat, a professor of economics who also holds a master’s degree in divinity from the Princeton Theological Seminary, ousted Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin, according to
The Huffington Post, which noted Cantor raised about $5.4 million, compared with Brat's $200,000.
Scarborough characterized Brat as an "articulate" candidate and "a guy that I would trust if I were a voter."