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CNN TONIGHT

Eric Cantor Loses GOP Primary And Seat In Congressional Upset; Immigration On the Front Lines Of Battles In Arizona

Aired June 10, 2014 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Here is the last one. This is CNN's congressional producer. Predicted this was going to happen. He said yesterday he expected he would win and he see a CNN van in his drive way tonight. I think he is right about that.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Brian Stelter, thank you. It is the top of the hour now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. And we are back with tonight's news. It is being called a political earthquake. In a stunning upset, Eric Cantor has lost to his Tea Party opponent in the Virginia primary. The number two Republican in the house. The man much of the GOP regards as the most conservative member of the House leadership. The man who was thought to be next in line to be speaker defeated by Dave Brat, an economics professor at Randolph Macon College outside Richmond.

And tonight, some of the best minds in politics are here to break it all down for us. Joining me is CNN's our very own Dana Bash, our Mark Preston and also Gloria Borger.

Dana, what happened tonight?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What happened tonight is this was a surprise of epic proportions. This is a town where we are right now, that doesn't get phased by much. But everybody I'm talking to is numb., is numb from the shock. Because even the challenger didn't really think he was going to win. He said, joking to our Deidre Walsh that this could be a CNN van pulling up in his drive way. But he didn't really mean it.

And at the end of the day, Eric Cantor and the people who generally support him and have supported him in general election campaigns didn't go out into the primary, they didn't go out and to vote. And the money that he had, the $5 million war chest, simply couldn't beat the $300,000 war chest of his unknown candidate because money can't buy enthusiasm.

LEMON: Mark, how broad does the fall-out from this go?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It goes very far. Look, the local implication says that we will see a new congressman from a district north of Richmond. The national implications are we are going to have a new majority leader in Congress. We will have a new lineup of potential successors for John Boehner when he decides to leave as house speaker. And of course, we have final two years of the Obama presidency. Right now of course he doesn't get along very well with the house Republican leadership. You have to expect right n now, given tonight of what we saw, Don, house Republicans would become probably scared. Tea Party will become more emboldened and less will get done on Capitol Hill, Don.

LEMON: Gloria, after his loss, Eric Cantor said this tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: What I have set out to do and what the agenda that I have always said were about is we want to create a Virginia and America that works for everybody. And we need to focus our efforts as conservatives, as Republicans, on putting forth our conservative solutions so that they can help solve the problems. For so many working middle class families. That may not have the opportunity that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Gloria, how will this defeat be? How is it for him importantly, you think?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it must be so difficult. I mean, he did not expect to lose. I think he knew when he was booed at a Republican conference in Virginia the other weekend that something was going on. But it is very hard to poll in these primaries. The committed come out, the base of the party come out, and I think that Cantor clearly did not expect this.

As Dana reported earlier in the evening, he was offered some money by the chamber of commerce. He didn't take it because he had $5 million in the bank. This is someone, I was told tonight, a Republican strategist said to me, quote, "it is measuring the drapes is never a good strategy." I think lots of people anticipated that he could become the next speaker of the house.

I think what this means and shows us is the perils of leadership right now in the Republican party. I think Cantor could likely be replaced by a member of the Tea Party. And by way, when Cantor, as a leader, he was the Tea Party's leader in the Republican leadership. You see how fleeting these things are, Don. But then they thought they he was a turn coat because he supported ending the government shutdown. And he supported a part of immigration reform that they didn't like. So you know, can you lose that banner in a nano second and he did and he didn't even know it.

LEMON: OK, here's the question though. Is it possible that we are reading way too much into this and he just did not work hard enough and he, you know, he really just underestimated his opponent?

BORGER: I think so. I don't know what these guys think. I think that Lindsay Graham won tonight with 60 percent of the vote. And that lots of people I've been e-mailing with are saying to me, look, you know, this is about Eric Cantor. The fact that he didn't have a grass roots organization, that people thought he was divorced from his district, that he cared more about the speakership.

LEMON: Dana?

BASH: Yes, that's true. And I think that the lesson is that so many of these incumbent Republicans that we've seen win and beat back to the Tea Party so far this year, have done so because they've seen what happened to people in years past who didn't pay close attention, who didn't take the threat seriously, who didn't fight back hard and go home more often and be more active their district or states. Eric Cantor didn't seems do that. They were pretty confident, very confident that they would beat their challenger.

But to Gloria's points about the perils of leadership, one of the things that Eric Cantor has been trying to do in recent years is take on the mantle of leadership in the party and try to expand the party. That doesn't play well with activists. They don't want to hear about expanding the party.

I just went back and found an interview that I did with Eric Cantor six months ago. And I asked him about something that I heard he said to his own rank and file after the shut down. He said, we have to stop eating our own. Kind of ironic.

LEMON: I was thinking about that, because Eric Cantor was one of the most, if not the most, conservative leader. And that you know, you said it's fleeting. It is fleeting.

Mark Preston, where does this leave John Boehner?

PRESTON: Well, it is certainly leaves him in a position where he doesn't have Eric Cantor -- look, Eric Cantor, let's just say this, was an great ally of don Boehner. I'm sure that Dana can speak to that a little bit more. But at least he had Eric Cantor there. That separated him from the Tea Party masses. I think it's important to note that Eric Cantor lost this race tonight. The Tea Party didn't win this race necessarily.

However, in politics, perception is reality right now. And what you will see, and we've seen this already in the past couple of hours, we are all getting e-mails, from Tea Party organizations, across the country, even Chris McDaniel who is running against Thad Cochran in Mississippi in two weeks, he is taking credit for this. What you will see is an emboldened Tea Party. They are going to try to take credit for it. And what you will see a spin-off from that, Don, is that you will start to see a little bit more activity on that side. The question is, can it sustain until November.

BORGER: You know, even the tea parties groups weren't really involved in this because nobody thought they had shot, you know, in unseating Eric Cantor. What I don't know and I would like to find out is what his favorability ratings were going into this because if the base of the party didn't like him, the base of the Republican party, then that explains a lot of this. BASH: And this is also a testament to the power of conservative

radio. It is still very, very strong. Laura Ingraham, Don, I've been following her tweets on this for several weeks. The fact that she has really been trying to gin up the grassroots in that Virginia district. She went down there, had a rally herself, you can't underestimate that.

LEMON: Tomorrow, Congressional Democrats, Gloria, you want to take a gander what the they will be saying.

BORGER: Well, you know, so on the one hand, they are sending out all of these press releases and tweets saying the Republican party has been overtaken by the Tea Party. It shows you how right wing the Republican party has become. And so they are kind of crowing about this.

On the other hand they are nervous. Because what this means for the president's agenda, particularly as far as immigration is concerned, is that Republicans are just going to run away. Because they're going to be afraid of -- they are going to look at what happened at Eric Cantor. They will say, that OK, that could happen, you know, to me.

Tonight, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York sent out something that said, you know, the Republican party has to follow Lindsey Graham who also won his primary tonight because he is somebody who can work with the other party rather than Eric Cantor, who you know, who couldn't. So I think, you know, they trying to kind of spin it.

BASH: But to that point, Gloria, that is an excellent point you bring up. Because that speaks to what we were saying before, which is this isn't necessarily about immigration or about a specific topic. It is about Lindsey Graham winning his primary because he was very aggressive in doing so. Went home a lot. Made sure that field was clear from people who could actually beat him. He paid attention. Eric Cantor, not so much.

LEMON: Mark, if you want to get in with these ladies, you know, you work in the office with them every single day in Washington.

BORGER: Yes, he does.

BASH: He's not shy, Don.

LEMON: I know. Thank you guys, appreciate it. To Gloria, to Dana, and to Mark Preston as well.

What may be the definitive issue of this primary season? Immigration in the front line of the battles of Arizona.

CNN's Gary Tuchman has more on that.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, I can tell you here in the state of Arizona, we have an influx of children crossing the border. Just over the last two weeks since memorial day. Also, mothers with small babies. Why they're doing this, we don't know exactly. What they telling us is that Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador are getting more violent. These mothers have told us, just literally today, that they want to get out of there. They want their children to be safer.

Meanwhile, children are thought the same thing. That they have family members here, that it is a safer place to be. But we also know it is known by those people, those groups, that it is easier to stay in the United States when you're a child or mother with a child. But they are being treated much differently, Don. The children who are coming here alone are being taken, and for the most part, to a border patrol station in Nogales, Arizona. They then are being flown to three different military facilities in California, in Oklahoma and Texas where it then decided what to do with the children. Most likely they will end up in the country if they have family here.

The mothers are much different story. Mothers and their babies are actually being told you can stay in the country for now. They are taken to greyhound bus stations. At the greyhound bus stations, they are not given money. They are not given food, they make their own arrangements to go to where the relatives are.

These people do not speak English, these mothers. They never out of Guatemala, never been out of Honduras., never been out of El Salvador. And they are at a greyhound bus station here in Tucson, going to New York, going to Miami, going to Memphis, going to Los Angeles. They have no idea how big the country is, how long it will take. Some of these bus rides are four days. but they are on the buses now all across America going to their families. They are supposed to register when they get to their families. And most likely, they will end up staying in the country too. But they can go be sent back. That's what they told by the government. Nothing is definite but they can go to their relatives right now -- Don.

LEMON: You mentioned the violence., I mean, the big question is why now, Gary? Why are they coming in such numbers now?

TUCHMAN: This remind me a lot of exactly 20 years ago, 1994, when we had an influx. Hundreds and hundreds of Cuban rafters, leaving Cuba, coming on rafts, coming to the United States. It becomes a crescendo. Everyone hears, everyone is in Cuba, they start doing it. That's what is happening now. That in these central American countries, with there is so violent, and they are told because they are coming from there, and because they are mothers, because they are children, it is easier to stay here. That now is the good time. They fear their neighbors are doing it and more people end up doing it.

But right now, no one knows how to handle the situation if it gets more, if the situation gets more dire and more children come, they will run out of space to put the children. So right now, it is not clear how the federal government and how state governments will handle this.

LEMON: Gary Tuchman, in Tucson, Arizona. Gary, thank you very much.

I want to bring in Scottie Hughes, news director of Tea Party news network. He joins me via Skype. Also, Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez, the author of "Las Republicanos." Thank you both for joining us.

Listen Leslie, first to you. Let's talk about this immigration issue. Are we overplaying this immigration issue or does it -- is it really significant in what happened with Eric Cantor, defeat of Eric Cantor?

LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I certainly think it has a part to play. There is probably three parts here. One is establishment fatigue. We have heard about it from some of our colleagues. Another is, there may have been miss chief in the fact that you're here, that we're seeing, excuse me, that there was heavy turnout in strong Democratic precincts, you know. And Democrats can openly vote here. You don't know if maybe there was miss chief on that side. Bit one the issue of immigration reform, the most important point is that Eric Cantor had two sides. He was pro immigration reform and then he would against amnesty.

You can't be inconsistent like that. It is very evident that it causes frustration among voters. You saw case in point with Senator Lindsey Graham who took a very strong position. Stood firmly in his bold leadership for reform and made his way through some Tea Party challenges. You have you to be consistent on this and that's the underlying issue.

LEMON: Scottie?

SCOTTIE HUGHES, TEA PARTY NEWS NETWORK: Well, it is so simple. Some people might be surprised tonight about Dave Brat winning. And the reality of it is that I'm not surprised that Eric Cantor lost. He has lost complete connection with the people in the seventh district of Virginia. America, like the 7th district, is in a jobless recovery. People are trying to figure out how to put food on their table. Deal with the rising cost of health care and Eric Cantor is out there trying to talk about a pathway to citizenship on immigration. You can't to dare and compare the race tonight as the same one that happened in South Carolina.

Lindsey Graham was going up against three tea partiers. And here where we have in Virginia, it was one establish versus one conservative. And almost every race that we have seen that, we have seen that the conservative wins which that means that we have the stronger voice within the party.

LEMON: There is always a lesson in it somewhere. And Scottie to you first, what's the lesson in it for the Republican party?

HUGHES: Very simple. That the Republican party has to respect and has to sit there and realize that the power is in the grassroots conservatives. And the more that they sit there and try to bad at the side, the more that we are fight back.

We are a party together. And united with will stand. And if they divide us, we will fall. So you have to realize, you can either sit there and continue to battle us or you can sit there and work with us and we will be able to actually have a real defeat when it comes to the real elections we care about, which is the general in 2014 and White House in 2016.

LEMON: Leslie, if you're a incumbent on Capitol Hill, conservative incumbent, are you looking over your shoulder?

SANCHEZ: Absolutely. Any incumbent, Republican or Democrat, should absolutely be doing that. There is not an end to the establishment fatigue we're talking about. The grass roots elements and frustration is very palatable. Members should know about that. But we cannot falsely believe there is some blanket solution when it comes to immigration reform.

There is a lot of consistency and the fact that people will come together on border enforcement and security. Come together and penalizing employers who are hiring undocumented workers. It is getting into the weeds and the details about citizenship and this legalization where Republicans and Democrats are going to clash but they are going to have -- and conservatives and the conservative voices in here, we are going to have to work together to get this done. Otherwise we are embolden -- we are empowering the president to either not take action and have the ramifications and the crisis we see now or take, you now, unilateral action which could be even more disastrous.

LEMON: In the short time left, Scottie, is this really not so much about the Tea Party and more about Eric Cantor and Eric Cantor just wasn't up to the job?

HUGHES: No.

LEMON: And he happened to go up against a Tea Party person?

HUGHES: Well, the key here is he did just happen to be going up against a Tea Party person who believes in the conservative values like the majority of Americans are screaming for. And so, no. This was we can consider and say this a victory for the Tea Party. But the reality is, we're a movement. We are not party ourselves. So therefore, we don't turn wins and losses. We are at the table, we are driving the conversation, driving legislation. That's where we're winning.

LEMON: Scottie and Leslie, thank you very much. I appreciate both you. That's it for us tonight. "AC 360" in just one minute.

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