House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said he has “no regrets” 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, 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.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- Sabrina Carpenter Has Waited Her Whole Life for This
- What Lies Ahead for the Middle East
- Why It's So Hard to Quit Vaping
- Jeremy Strong on Taking a Risk With a New Film About Trump
- Our Guide to Voting in the 2024 Election
- The 10 Races That Will Determine Control of the Senate
- Column: How My Shame Became My Strength
Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com