In early 2009, congressional Republicans were staring down a long exile in the political wilderness.
Barack Obama was about to assume the presidency, and Democrats were within reach of a filibuster-proof, 60-vote supermajority in the Senate and the largest House majority in more than 20 years after the economic crisis of 2008.
Republicans seized on the Tea Party and associated groups, with their nativist leanings and vehemently anti-establishment impulses, as their ticket back to power.
“We benefited from the anger that was generated against the one-way legislation of the Obama years,” said Eric Cantor, the former House leader from Virginia who became the No.
2 Republican after the 2010 midterm elections catapulted the party back into the majority.
Persons:
Mike Johnson, Barack Obama, Obama, —, ”, Eric Cantor
Organizations:
Republican, Republicans, Tea Party
Locations:
Virginia