I taught at that very same Randolph-Macon College in the early 1970's for three years, after which I got pushed out in a tenure crush: they did not want to have two Spanish professors with tenure. They didn't tell me this when I took the job. RMC has a very rigid Board of Directors. I also, of course, lived in the same District and I think I have a handle on what really happened: Cantor was unable to get an adequate turnout, and the small munber fo people who actually voted are the FFV types (First Families of Virginia) types, and they did not like Cantor because Cantor is a Jew. Cantor does not have the typical Old White Guy Hanover County accent, and he was defeated by old farts who figure, probably correctly that Professor Brat was a Wasp who was more likely to keep the Mexicans out. The ruling class in VA is a very racist bunch of old White folks and at the time I taught at RMC, I was married to my first wife, who was Mexican, and did we ever get dirty looks when we spoke Spanish in public anywhere in Hanover County. Before that, I taught at WVWC in Buckhannon, WV, and I recall some old miner pulled me aside in the landromat and asked me, "Excuse, me, but what race is your wife?" In Virginia, there was more dislike of foreigners than the ignorance we found in WV. Of course, that was 40 years ago, but Virginia is a very traditional state. I also noticed that voter turnout there was low-- so low that I was usually outnumbered by the two or three poll workers (who were always elderly White women).
Of all the states I have lived in MO, KS, IA, NM,TX, WA, MD, VA and FL, Virginia was the worst governed of them all: the police were known for setting up speed traps, they taxed drugs and groceries, the DMV was run by the most sluggish of fools, and the legislature was stuffed with rednecks and phony aristocrats.
I do not know anything about Prof. Brat (what a name). He came there long after I had left for sunnier climes.
If Brat wins, he will have none of the power than Cantor has now, he will probably just warm a chair and vote NO on everything. That is what teasies tend to do. But he might also LOSE to a Democrat.
It can be called a victory for the Democrats either way: Cantor had seniority, important committee assignments and a lot of pull with the Country Club type old line Republicans in the House. If Brat is elected, he will have none of those things. If he is defeated, the Democrat who beats him will probably be a populist.
