Eric Cantor should have paid attention to constituents: Sen. Grassley

CEDAR RAPIDS - If only Eric Cantor had done the 'full Grassley.”

The GOP U.S. House majority leader's surprising primary election loss Tuesday should be a reminder to every elected official not to lose touch with their constituents, according to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who visits all 99 counties every year.

'There was no inkling he would lose,” Grassley said Wednesday about Cantor losing to tea party-backed David Brat, a college economic professor. But, the five-term Republican added, 'You don't argue with the results of an election.”

As far as why Cantor, who carried 79 percent of the vote in his Virginia district two years ago, lost, Grassley speculated the No. 2 leader in the House may not have paid enough attention to his constituents.

That may have been because Cantor saw himself as a national Republican leader and 'he figured being a national leader would be appreciated enough by his constituents that he didn't have to do constituent contact (and) thought voters would appreciate having a representative who held a leadership position in the House,” Grassley said during his weekly conference call with news reporters.

Or, Grassley said, fulfilling his leadership responsibilities didn't leave Cantor enough time for constituent work.

Either way, said Grassley, who already has announced his intention to run again in 2016, 'it's a lesson to everybody that nobody is indispensable … wherever you're slotted.”

Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he better never start to think that the 'people of Iowa are going to appreciate that they have a person of some leadership and will automatically send you back.”

'You can't do that. I don't do that,” he said. 'Maybe other people have and that's why they're in trouble.”

Without mentioning Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, he said there is 'some speculation that a senator who is in a runoff now has that problem.”

Cochran faces a June 24 runoff because neither he nor his tea party challenger captured 50 percent of the primary vote.