People are making a lot of hay about Eric Cantor’s loss to Dave Brat. It was an impressive victory. As far as I can tell, Brat is going to be a great conservative congressman. But the idea that Brat’s victory predicts good things for any one of Sen. Lamar Alexander’s challengers is silly.

No disrespect to Brat, but he didn’t so much win as Cantor lost. Everything I’ve read suggests Cantor focused more on his leadership role than on Virginians who elected him. Alexander, on the other hand, left Senate Republican leadership so he could focus more on getting things done for Tennesseans. Cantor’s staff apparently wasn’t very responsive to constituent needs. But I’ve only ever heard good things about calling Lamar’s office with a Social Security or Medicare problem.

Also, Cantor didn’t realize he had to fight for his seat until it was too late. But Lamar announced in December 2012 that he was running, and he’s been running hard to earn our votes ever since. On Aug. 8, we’ll look back at Lamar’s overwhelming primary win, and it will make perfect sense.

Julie Howell
Nashville 37205