Dave Brat: 'hot' Tea Party backed challenger causes US political shock
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Version 0 of 1. Age: 49. Occupation: Economics professor at Randolph-Macon College, Virginia. Appearance: Hot! Well, it is mid-June. Perhaps he should take off his jacket? Hell, yeah! And his pants! Do you mean "pants" in the American usage? Sure. And the British one. I'm becoming concerned. Relax. Brat is a devout Catholic and a social conservative. He's also just won the Republican nomination for Virginia's seventh congressional district as a Tea Party backed challenger. So for a variety of reasons he's unlikely to suddenly rip off his jacket, trousers and underpants in public? Very unlikely, sadly, as despite giving him a fairly average mark for his academic work, his students awarded him a red chilli pepper for "hotness" on ratemyprofessors.com. It's what every professor yearns for, along with tenure. Yes. Although Brat might also put less government and more Jesus on his list. And he might be forgiven a bit of celebratory nudeness because his victory in the primary was truly astonishing. How so? He defeated Eric Cantor, the house majority leader and the second most senior Republican in the House of Representatives, who has held the seat for 14 years. Goodness. And with a $200,000 campaign, compared with Cantor's $5.4m. Wow. No poll predicted that Brat would win, and no house majority leader has lost their primary since the post was created in 1899. Crumbs and crikey. "I was blessed," Brat says. "It's a miracle." Not if you're Cantor. How did Brat convince the voters to support him? He threatened them with immigrants. Of course. There is a debate in Washington over whether some people who entered the US illegally should be allowed to stay. Cantor hinted that he might be willing to consider compromises. Brat pounced. Will he win the district too? Hard to say. It's been solidly Republican since 1971, but not all Republican voters will like Brat's Tea Party ways. Who's he up against? That's another funny thing. The Democratic candidate is a guy called Jack Trammell, who is – wait for it – another professor at Randolph-Macon College with a chilli pepper against his name. That's democracy, I suppose. Yes. A form of it. Do say: "Take up thy bed and walk …" Don't say: "… back to Mexico." |