Who Is David Brat? Meet the Economics Professor Who Defeated Eric Cantor

8:29 pm ET
Jun 10, 2014
2014


By Reid J. Epstein

US Congressional Republican candidate David Brat in MayAP

Who is David Brat?

The college economics professor is suddenly the tea party’s newest star after toppling House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) in a primary Tuesday. Mr. Brat’s victory is the biggest House primary upset in generations – and wasn’t predicted by anyone, including Mr. Brat.

“God acted through people on my behalf,” Mr. Brat told Fox News during an interview Tuesday night. “It’s an unbelievable miracle.”

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And it’s not like Mr. Brat had a lot of mortal help. National groups like the Club for Growth that aim to pick off Republicans who stray from strict party orthodoxy didn’t get involved. Mr. Cantor outraised Mr. Brat $5.7 million to $231,000. The only national conservative figure to help Mr. Brat was talk radio host Laura Ingraham, who touted him on the air and hosted a rally for him last week.

Mr. Brat’s victory, Ms. Ingraham said, was fueled by “fury with the GOP establishment on fiscal issues and immigration.” He campaigned on opposing the 2008 government bailout program, the budget deal reached by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and a general sense that leadership ignored the little people, she said.

“The lives of most Americans aren’t getting any better year after year,” Ms. Ingraham said. “Their wages are down or flat as the cost of living is going up. And for the past two years they’ve seen Eric Cantor focus an inordinate amount of time on how to improve the lives of illegal immigrants. So why should they be expected to return the same politicians back to Washington election after election? Eric Cantor was perceived as arrogant and disconnected–and voters thought it was time that he try to find a real job in this lousy economy.”

Mr. Brat campaigned as a stark opponent of comprehensive immigration reform. To Fox, he couched his opposition to immigration reform as part of a broader theme accusing Mr. Cantor as being too allied with corporate interests.

“The issue is the Republican Party has been paying way too much attention to Wall Street and not enough attention to Main Street,” Mr. Brat said.

Of immigration reform, he said: “It’s the most symbolic issue that captures the difference between myself and Eric Cantor in this race but it also captures the fissures between Main Street and Wall Street.”

Mr. Brat was so unknown that his Wikipedia entry was only two sentences before Tuesday night. Reached by phone before the Associated Press declared him the winner, Mr. Brat said only, “I’m going into the celebration party right now.”



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Early life and education

Brat was born in Detroit[3] in July 1964.[4] Brat's father, Paul, was a doctor of internal medicine; his mother, Nancy, was employed as a social worker in Alma, Michigan, where he was raised. [5][6][5][7] His family moved from Alma to Minnesota when David, the oldest of three boys, was in junior high.[5] Brat graduated from Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.[5] Brat attended Hope College in Michigan and received a B.A. in Business Administration in 1986; he also graduated with a Master's degree in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990 and earned a Ph.D in economics from American University in 1995.[8] Brat moved to Virginia in 1996 with his wife, Laura.[9][10][11]

....

In his 2011 essay titled God and Advanced Mammon — Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?, Brat posits that if Christian people "had the guts to spread the word," government would not need to "backstop every action we take."[38] According to Kevin Roose in New York Magazine article, Brat "sees free-market economics as being intricately linked to ethics and faith and he makes the case that Adam Smith’s invisible hand theory, should be seen in the context of Christianity."[44]

On Capitalism, Brat writes that it is here to stay and that we need a corresponding church model.[45] He asserts that Jesus had faith and made things better, but Christians have become a bit passive.[45] He stated that Hitler's rise "could all happen again" as he came along and "did not meet with unified resistance" from Christians.[45][38] Brat believes that countries with Protestant pasts have economic advantages over countries that don’t, and that Protestantism "provides an efficient set of property rights and encourages a modern set of economic incentives” that often lead to "positive economic performance.”[44] He believes in Christ as a transformer of culture, and that capitalism is the key to world transformation, which can be achieved when capitalism and Christianity merge; if people follow the gospel, and as a consequence make people good, he argues, then the markets will improve.[46]

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brat


II

"God acted through people on my behalf."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/david-brat-victory-cantor-shines-spotlight-background-article-1.1826497

III

 David Brat, Calvinist Catholic?

 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2014/06/david-brat-catholic/


P.S. When I read the above article earlier today, it showed that D. Brat was Roman Catholic.
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