Is The Tea Party Making A Comeback?

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia lost to a Tea Party challenger on Tuesday in a stunning Republican primary upset that sent shockwaves through Congress and gave the conservative Tea Party movement the biggest victory in its four-year history.

Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, was easily beaten by college economics professor David Brat, CNN projected. With nearly 90 percent of votes counted, Brat had 56 percent to Cantor's 44 percent.

Brat, a political newcomer who teaches at Randolph-Macon College, had argued Cantor was not conservative enough and accused the seven-term incumbent of betraying conservative values on spending, the national debt and immigration.

Cantor had been seen by many as an eventual successor to House Speaker John Boehner, and his loss is certain to unsettle members of both parties already nervous about the depth of anger toward Congress among voters.

Cantor had spent more than $5 million to head off the challenge from Brat, who spent about $122,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The victory followed a string of primary losses by Tea Party candidates this year to candidates backed by the Republican establishment.

The race was the highlight of voting in five states on Tuesday. South Carolina, Maine, Nevada and North Dakota were also selecting candidates for the Nov. 4 midterm elections.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also faced a Tea Party challenge on Tuesday. Graham was expected to beat a crowded field of six challengers who had accused him of not being conservative enough.

The Tea Party movement would like to make clear that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

Victories this week by Tea Party-backed candidates in Nebraska and West Virginia Republican primaries are helping to reinvigorate the movement, which some had written off amid a difficult campaign season. But as its own members point out, whether the movement is winning primaries or not, it's hard to argue its small-government message has faded.

Famous, or infamous, Tea Party-aligned lawmakers in Congress continue to play a strong role in the direction of the party. Polls of conservatives consistently show figures like Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as political favorites in a hypothetical 2016 race. And it is those figures who keep the Republican Party something of an evolving force -- Paul arguably made drones a bipartisan issue, and also filed a lawsuit this year against the administration over NSA surveillance, pushing the GOP to rethink the balance between security and privacy.

"Political pundits love to role-play as coroners, but they aren't very good at it," Tea Party Express Executive Director Taylor Budowich said after wins Tuesday night in Nebraska and West Virginia. "The mainstream media has been pushing the recycled 'Tea Party is Dead' headlines, but tonight's results show how again they've got it wrong. What these pundits don't understand is ... the broad appeal of the Tea Party's message of fiscal responsibility and economic growth."

In Nebraska, the primary victory by Republican Senate candidate Ben Sasse should help his party in November retain the open seat -- he is immediately considered the favorite for the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Mike Johanns.

In West Virginia, former Maryland GOP chairman Alex Mooney won the Republican primary with spending help from such outside groups as the Madison Fund, the Senate Conservatives Fund and Tea Party Express.

The Tea Party is optimistic about winning both general election races -- with Mooney's 2nd Congressional District being a Republican stronghold and Sasse, a former Bush administration official, rebuffing the kind of fringe-candidate label that dogged some unsuccessful Tea Party candidates in 2012.

In addition, Tea Party leaders are touting the narrow victory Tuesday by Nebraska GOP Rep. Lee Terry for a House seat he is expected to keep and Florida businessman Curt Clawson's victory last month in a special election for the House seat left by Republican Trey Radel.

Still, it is becoming clear this year that the Tea Party will struggle to repeat its past record of ousting high-profile Republican incumbents in the primaries.