Dave Brat Virtually Tied With Democrat Challenger

[Swordsmyth]

An incumbent Republican congressman is hanging on for dear life in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
According to a Christopher Newport University poll (http://wasoncenter.cnu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Oct-29-CD7-Report-Final.pdf) released Monday, Democrat Abigail Spanberger holds a one percentage-point lead, and is winning 96 percent of Democrats in the district.
According to Brat, he is comfortable with the polling.
“The Republicans are coming home, independents are breaking our way after the Kavanaugh story, and so in the end, I think Virginia people are going to do the right thing,” Brat said in a recent radio interview.

More at: https://bigleaguepolitics.com/virginia-7th-dave-brat-virtually-tied-with-democrat-challenger/

[Brian4Liberty]

GOP establishment would rather lose to a Democrat than help. They are probably running ads against him through some secret PAC.

[Todd]

Annnnd.....he's gone.

[acptulsa]

GOP establishment would rather lose to a Democrat than help. They are probably running ads against him through some secret PAC.

Yet we are told in this forum that supporting the GOP is in our best interests...

I certainly support the GOP dropping the pretense and officially merging with the DNC, so a second party can rise and we can have a two party system

[shakey1]

Yet we are told in this forum that supporting the GOP is in our best interests...

I certainly support the GOP dropping the pretense and officially merging with the DNC, so a second party can rise and we can have a two party system

http://peacebenwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Jesus_vs._satan.jpg

[Todd]

I actually liked Brat taking out the RINO several years back. Loved watching the heads splode. Guess he didn't align too much with those RINOS.

[nobody's_hero]

Yet we are told in this forum that supporting the GOP is in our best interests...

I certainly support the GOP dropping the pretense and officially merging with the DNC, so a second party can rise and we can have a two party system

Then again, he wouldn't have made it into office to begin with, if he ran under the libertarian or democrat banner. That's the cold hard truth.

I'm pissed as anyone else that the republican establishment still has such a stranglehold over the funding and promotion of republican grassroots candidates.

The Republican grassroot's problem is that they keep trying to go around the establishment's armies on their way into office, sometimes successfully, only to find they get stabbed in the back because they never actually dealt with the enemies they passed along the way.

There's no shortcut, folks. Either republicans are going to have to start taking over the party leadership first, or this is gonna keep happening.

[acptulsa]

Then again, he wouldn't have made it into office to begin with, if he ran under the libertarian or democrat banner. That's the cold hard truth.

Yes. It's also cold comfort.


My father established our relationship when I was seven years old. He looked at me and said, “You know, I brought you into this world, I’ll take you out. And it don’t make no difference to me, I’ll make another one that looks just like you.

[AuH20]

Then again, he wouldn't have made it into office to begin with, if he ran under the libertarian or democrat banner. That's the cold hard truth.

I'm pissed as anyone else that the republican establishment still has such a stranglehold over the funding and promotion of republican grassroots candidates.

The Republican grassroot's problem is that they keep trying to go around the establishment's armies on their way into office, sometimes successfully, only to find they get stabbed in the back because they never actually dealt with the enemies they passed along the way.

There's no shortcut, folks. Either republicans are going to have to start taking over the party leadership first, or this is gonna keep happening.

It all comes down to media. The media still controls the narrative with the goddamn ignorant normies.

[nobody's_hero]

Yes. It's also cold comfort.

I respect that you don't care for the Republican party. But, I do see a difference between the average republican voter and the party leadership. 'Partisanship' is not going anywhere, so if you want access to those voters' ears and attention, you pretty much have to run as a republican, or you'll be shut out. If Ron Paul had run as anything other than a republican, many of us wouldn't be here because we'd never have known he existed. You can hate it if you want to, but those are the dynamics. The only other option is that there's a concerted effort to drive one of the two major parties into extinction, where the only other candidate on the debate stage is a libertarian, but that's a challenge in itself because too many people insist on remaining some sort of "neutral" 1% ground between the Dems and Republicans.

[acptulsa]

But, I do see a difference between the average republican voter and the party leadership. '

Everybody with eyes does. The rank and file realizes they have to form a herd or they'll be vulnerable to the mountain lions, and the leadership sheep dogs herd them into the pens at the slaughterhouse.

I respect and appreciate that you have your finger accurately on that problem. But I doubt that the solutions you put forth are sufficient by themselves. We have to get a megaphone to succeed. The internet almost worked for a while, but the enemy took that megaphone away from us by driving the herd to platforms they could censor. Now what?

[Brian4Liberty]

They really put in a shill to take out Brat. A CIA operative no less. Got to get all of those CIA votes in Virginia.

So Brat had several things going against him here:

- Establishment GOP hanged him out to dry. (May have even worked against him behind the scenes).
- Media was against him.
- And possibly the most important, demographic change in his district.


The story of Virginia’s Seventh District is in large part a story of Richmond’s urban sprawl. In 2017, the district was 70 percent white, 18 percent African American, 7 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian. A growing tech scene and suburban development are rapidly changing this community...

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/6/18070272/house-midterm-results-virginia-seventh-abigail-spanberger-winner

[Brian4Liberty]

Cavuto on Fox News (or his bosses) had the gall to have Eric Cantor on his show to gloat about Dave Brat losing. Quite a long interview. Establishment media.

[AuH20]

Cavuto on Fox News (or his bosses) had the gall to have Eric Cantor on his show to gloat about Dave Brat losing. Quite a long interview. Establishment media.

Brat got outspent 2 to 1 by the deep state dem. Plus, the libertarian didn't help things.

[acptulsa]

Plus, the libertarian didn't help things.

Give every one of the Libertarian's votes to Brat and he still loses.

[eleganz]

Give every one of the Libertarian's votes to Brat and he still loses.

Thats true and not all of the LP voters would've gone to Brat but thats only part of the problem. The GOP leadership fumbled this by trying to pump money into races that weren't winnable. Not like the GOP wanted to save brat anyways, if they were gonna lose the majority, might as well purge the trouble makers while at it.

[AuH20]

Thats true and not all of the LP voters would've gone to Brat but thats only part of the problem. The GOP leadership fumbled this by trying to pump money into races that weren't winnable. Not like the GOP wanted to save brat anyways, if they were gonna lose the majority, might as well purge the trouble makers while at it.

Comstock spent 5.2 million in VA 10 only to lose by double digit percentage points. Bratt only spent 1.8 million to lose by a few thousand. Do the math.

[Swordsmyth]

A source in the original Brat Pack tells Big League Politics that Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) cancelled a rally scheduled by Donald Trump Jr. that was supposed to be held at the Chesterfield Airport during the final weekend of the campaign.
Brat lost to Democratic challenger Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
The source tells Big League Politics that Brat’s inability to define himself as a candidate is what did him in.
The Brat Pack was the original group of grassroots conservatives that supported Brat’s unlikely primary win against then House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014.


Conservative sources within Virginia’s grassroots Republican community echoed this sentiment, saying that Brat had been unwilling to fight against GOP House leadership and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) going back as far back as one year.

Perhaps Brat’s most befuddling campaign moment was when he released a cringeworthy ad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6k70Qp8mfE) bragging about writing “bi-partisan legislation to stop a federal agency from conducting cruel medical research on dogs.”

Of all the issues – immigration, economy and health care, to name a few – Brat chose medical research on dogs.
Brat, and many of the Republican candidates who lost Tuesday, never embraced President Donald J. Trump’s America First agenda, which Trump pointed out on Twitter Wednesday.

More at: https://bigleaguepolitics.com/source-dave-brat-cancelled-rally-with-don-jr-weekend-before-midterm-loss/


Perhaps Brat’s most befuddling campaign moment was when he released a cringeworthy ad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6k70Qp8mfE) bragging about writing “bi-partisan legislation to stop a federal agency from conducting cruel medical research on dogs.”:facepalming: