Eric Cantor — looking composed and even unusually at ease — went before the press on Wednesday afternoon and announced he’s stepping down as majority leader, ending an 11-year run in Republican leadership.
The No. 2 House Republican called his defeat to an upstart primary challenger a “personal setback,” adding that his campaign team had done everything it could to win.
Cantor — who rarely holds solo news conferences but stood before the national press corps the day after his stunning defeat — dismissed the argument that he had absented himself too frequently from his Seventh District in Richmond.
“I was in my district every week,” Cantor insisted emphatically. “There is a balance between holding a leadership position and serving constituents at home. Never was there a day that I did not put the constituents of the 7th district first and I will continue to do so.”
He endorsed California Rep. Kevin McCarthy to succeed him as majority leader. The election will be held June 19, and Cantor plans to leave his post by the end of July. He’ll stay in the House until December.
