David Elliot Meyer & Lauren Cohen Bell 
Slingshot [EPUB ebook] 
The Defeat of Eric Cantor

‘This is a book that needed to be written. Eric Cantor’s defeat was not only shocking but it runs against everything we teach in our election courses. By extracting the lessons from Cantor’s defeat, Slingshot helps to inform our more general understanding of campaigns & elections.’

-Professor Kirby Goidel,
Texas A&M University


Incumbents don′t lose. So how did nationally prominent House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lose a primary battle to college professor David Brat, an unknown political rookie? In
Slingshot: The Defeat of Eric Cantor, authors Lauren Cohen Bell, David Elliot Meyer and Ronald Keith Gaddie take advantage of exceptional behind-the-scenes access to the Brat campaign to explain the challenger’s victory. They examine the essential need for elected officials to maintain strong support in their home districts and just how Cantor’s focus on climbing the party ranks in Washington contributed to his loss. They also show how local ‘rules of the game’ —particularly voter mobilization in this case—affect elections, and they explore the continuing impact of the Tea Party and its role in the factionalism of current Southern politics.  

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Chapter 1: The Cantor Case in Context

Journalists versus Political Scientists

Placing Cantor’s Defeat Into Context

Incumbent Defeats

Summary

Chapter 2: Eric Cantor and the Giant Slayer

June 10, 2014—Primary Election Night in Virginia

When Leaders Lose

Virginia and the South

The Virginia 7th & Redistricting

The Cast of Characters

Summary

Chapter 3: David and Goliath

Eric Cantor

David Brat

Summary

Chapter 4: Lost Between DC and Richmond

Life on Capitol Hill

The Three Phases of a Career

Cantor’s Early Years (2001-04)

Cantor’s mid-career years (2005-2010)

Cantor’s final two terms (2011-2014)

The Importance of Money

Summary

Chapter 5: The Primary Contest

Cantor’s Missteps

The Brat Campaign

Election Day

Summary

Chapter 6: The Aftermath

The Media (And Everyone Else) Missed the Signs

It’s (not) Immigration, Stupid

Will He or Won’t He?

The Majority Leader Steps Down

Cantor’s Resignation

The Consequences

Summary

Chapter 7: Conclusions

Lesson #1: Homestyles Matter

Lesson #2: The Inadequacy of First Impressions

Lesson #3: The Other Candidate Can Be Strategic

Lesson #4: The New Southern Factionalism

Lesson #5: Campaigns Matter

Lesson #6: The Big Sort and the Danger of the New Homogeneity

Lesson #7: The Tea Party is Not Monolithic

Lesson #8: Leadership and Risk

Lesson #9: Lessons for Political Scientists and the Pundit Class

Parting Thoughts

Epilogue: The 2014 General Election and a Look Toward 2016

Brat vs. Trammell

Brat’s Early Career in Congress

A Look Ahead to 2016

Parting Thoughts

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Ronald Keith Gaddie is President′s Associates Presidential Professor & Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma, associate director of the OU Center for Intelligence and National Secturity, and editor of Social Science Quarterly.  He previously taught at Tulane University and Centre College.  Keith received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia (1993) and his undergraduate degree from Florida State University (1987). He has published over 20 books on campaign politics, election law, sports, and fiction, including The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act (2016); The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia′s Progressive Politics (2015); Politics in America, 10th & 11th eds (2014, 2016) ; Georgia Politics in a State of Change, 1st & 2d eds. (2009, 2013); Ghosts on Vintners Landing: A Novel (2010); The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South (2009, winner of the V. O. Key Award); and University of Georgia Football (2008).