“Coveted Endorsements” Bring Down Eric Cantor

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s decisive defeat in yesterday’s primary says a lot about the shrinking relevance of so-called “coveted endorsements” from insider Republican groups.

Cantor had support from all of the usual RINO suspects: the Chamber of Commerce, the NRA, the National Association of Realtors, and others. Yet instead of helping him, all these endorsements did was make him look like an out of touch insider and a pawn of lobbyists.

Endorsements actually played a bigger role in this race than most people realize.

Outspent nearly 26 to 1, Dave Brat relied on endorsements from Tea Party groups and conservative media figures to raise his profile and propel him to victory.

Support from no-compromise gun groups like Gun Owners for America and National Association for Gun Rights helped him emphasize Cantor’s flip-flopping on gun control issues like background checks.

Backing from conservative media figures like Laura Ingraham, Eric Erickson, and Ann Coulter raised his profile and gave him credibility.

These scraped-together endorsements gave Brat a huge boost, but Cantor’s highly touted endorsements actually ended up hurting him.

Brat attacked Cantor for his ties to big groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, portraying him as arrogant and out of touch.

Cantor thought that his Washington connections would keep him safe. Instead, they proved to be his downfall.