--- title: Eric Cantor Has No Regrets After Dave Brat Loss, Won't Be a Lobbyist description: The soon-to-be-former House Majority Leader said he's weighing his options during Sunday morning talk-show appearances. canonical: https://time.com/2878248/eric-cantor-no-regrets-loss-lobbyist/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-15T15:54:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:57:31.543Z article:section: Politics og:title: Eric Cantor Has No Regrets After Dave Brat Loss, Won't Be a Lobbyist og:description: The soon-to-be-former House Majority Leader said he's weighing his options during Sunday morning talk-show appearances. og:url: https://time.com/2878248/eric-cantor-no-regrets-loss-lobbyist/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13980b898545589d/698697b0e53aba2a974d32bd/time-pol-cantor-140615.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announces his resignation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eric Cantor Has No Regrets After Dave Brat Loss, Won't Be a Lobbyist twitter:description: The soon-to-be-former House Majority Leader said he's weighing his options during Sunday morning talk-show appearances. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13980b898545589d/698697b0e53aba2a974d32bd/time-pol-cantor-140615.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eric Cantor Has 'No Regrets' After Stunning Loss > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c728a8f2-37e3-4c2b-a601-f22025e796bd&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Eric Cantor Lost [Watch (HLS stream): How Eric Cantor Lost](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mPxC6Wns.m3u8) (2:13)  _Published 2014-06-11. Rep. Cantor's defeat by a tea party-backed political newcomer rattles Capitol Hill_  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 15, 2014 3:54 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 15, 2014 3:54 PM UTC House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said he has [“no regrets”](http://washingtonexaminer.com/eric-cantor-i-dont-have-any-regrets/article/2549748) after his surprise loss in a congressional Republican primary last Tuesday. “We don’t always know right here and now why,” he said during a Sunday appearance on _CNN_‘s State of the Union. “And I think the perspective of time will actually indicate \[how\] something that may have seemed really bad at the time can turn out to be really good.” Cantor said he didn’t think there was one issue that led to his unexpected defeat by little-known [Dave Brat](http://time.com/2854861/david-brat-eye-candy-rate-my-professors/), and he declined to say how internal polls that had him up 34 points ahead of the vote could have been so wrong. “To me, you know, the problems that people are facing in this country are a lot greater than any kind of setback – political setback, personal setbacks I’ve got,” he said. During another Sunday appearance on ABC’s _This Week_, Cantor said that although he was considering all his options and wouldn’t rule out running for office again, there was one job he wasn’t interested in. “I don’t think that I want to be a lobbyist, but I do want to play a role in the public debate,” he said, [Politico reports](http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2014/06/cantor-i-dont-think-that-i-want-to-be-a-lobbyist-190418.html). ## Transcript The reason we won this campaign, and there's just one reason, and that's because dollars do not vote, you do. An upset shaking Washington and rattling incumbent republicans to their core. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor losing his primary to a little known conservative challenger. Economics professor, David Bratt. It's disappointing, sure. But I believe in this country. I believe there's opportunity around the next corner for all of us. The number two Republican in the House was widely considered and preparing to be the next Speaker of the House following John Boehner. Hi, I'm David Brat, and I'm running for the United States Congress in the [ INAUDIBLE ] Even Brad himself told CNN he didn't think he could pull off a win. With a war chest of only $ 300, 000 compared to Canter's $ 5, 000, 000. But Canter learned first hand that money doesnt buy enthusiasm and the grass roots in his Virginia district were determined to take the establishment republican down. Eric Cantor is trying to buy this election with corporate cash from Los Angeles and New York. He's acting as a conservative in public, while working behind the scenes to deliver open borders for large corporations. Brat's main case against Cantor was support for legal status for illegal immigrant children, the so- called Dreamers. And as public pledged to help the President in doing so. It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residents and citizenship for those who are brought to this country as children and who know no other home. Cantor is considered one of the most conservative members of the house GOP leadership. But he had been thinking like a party leader. Trying to broaden the GOP's appeal. After the government shutdown that divided house republicans, CNN learned he admonished his rank and file to Unite. You addressed your caucus, and basically said, come on guys, we have to stop eating our own. Well, I think the message that I was about was saying, look, the differences that may exist between us pale in comparison to the differences that we have with the President and his policies. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2878248/eric-cantor-no-regrets-loss-lobbyist/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2878248/eric-cantor-no-regrets-loss-lobbyist/"},"headline":"Eric Cantor Has 'No Regrets' After Stunning Loss","datePublished":"2014-06-15T15:54:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T08:57:31.543Z","description":"The soon-to-be-former House Majority Leader says he's weighing his options, but rules out becoming a lobbyist","url":"https://time.com/2878248/eric-cantor-no-regrets-loss-lobbyist/","keywords":["Congress","Republican Party","GOP","Eric Cantor"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13980b898545589d/698697b0e53aba2a974d32bd/time-pol-cantor-140615.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13980b898545589d/698697b0e53aba2a974d32bd/time-pol-cantor-140615.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announces his resignation","caption":"US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announces his resignation","creditText":"Michael Reynolds—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2878248/eric-cantor-no-regrets-loss-lobbyist/","name":"Eric Cantor Has 'No Regrets' After Stunning Loss"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Eric Cantor Lost","description":"Rep. 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