A source in the original Brat Pack tells Big League Politics that Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) cancelled a rally scheduled by Donald Trump Jr. that was supposed to be held at the Chesterfield Airport during the final weekend of the campaign.
Brat lost to Democratic challenger Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
The source tells Big League Politics that Brat’s inability to define himself as a candidate is what did him in.
The Brat Pack was the original group of grassroots conservatives that supported Brat’s unlikely primary win against then House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014.
Conservative sources within Virginia’s grassroots Republican community echoed this sentiment, saying that Brat had been unwilling to fight against GOP House leadership and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) going back as far back as one year.
Perhaps Brat’s most befuddling campaign moment was when he released a cringeworthy ad bragging about writing “bi-partisan legislation to stop a federal agency from conducting cruel medical research on dogs.”
Of all the issues – immigration, economy and health care, to name a few – Brat chose medical research on dogs.
Brat, and many of the Republican candidates who lost Tuesday, never embraced President Donald J. Trump’s America First agenda, which Trump pointed out on Twitter Wednesday.
“Those that worked with me in this incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and principles, did very well. Those that did not, say goodbye! Yesterday was such a very Big Win, and all under the pressure of a Nasty and Hostile Media!”