MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Eric Cantor Primary Defeat

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For more, let me bring Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Maryland. Congressman, what was the response on Capitol Hill to the stunning announcement that Eric Cantor lost?

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, (D) MARYLAND: Well, this was a bombshell on Capitol Hill just as it has been, you know, politically throughout the country. As you saw, Eric Cantor has already stated that he`s going to step down as the Republican leader in the House which will set off a raise among House Republican Caucus members as to who will replace him.

And so you will see happening in the House Republican Caucus the same Civil War going on throughout the country, among Republicans. And at least from
ast night`s result, it`s pretty clear that the most extreme Right Wing Tea Party faction is prevailing and that will send a shockwave through the House Republican Caucus. So in an institution where it`s already the case where we`re not getting things done for the American people, things will unfortunately, probably result in even more gridlock because the Tea Party folks, they just don`t want to work together to solve the country`s problems. It`s unfortunate but that`s the reality.

DYSON: No doubt. Congressman Van Hollen, in light of these results and with Cantor stepping down, do you think there is any hope for immigration reform at all?

VAN HOLLEN: You know, I think the odds were already tough, unfortunately. But at least Eric Cantor was willing to, you know, whisper about it, at least he was willing to entertain the idea of coming up with some compromise. As he indicated today, he`s been very hardline on immigration reform but at least he put forward his own version of the dream act. But the signal that was sent to the House Republican Party is they want no part of solving immigration reform for the country.

And I would say, by extension, they really don`t want to address a lot of the other nature issues we`ve got. The message that was sent is "Don`t cooperate, don`t work together on a bipartisan fashion with Democrats to try and move the country forward."

DYSON: What you said to those who argued no, Lindsey Graham won a hotly contested race and he did it in, you know, with passing color and he supported major reform in immigration. And other congress people, themselves, were in tough battles but they prevailed and many of the people who signed the anti-amnesty clause were themselves defeated. Do you think it`s a more complicated narrative here that there are some possibility for movement forward on the immigration front?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, I hope that`s the case. I mean, that would be a silver line in reading the results of some of these races. Unfortunately, I think it`s more along the lines that you just mentioned which is where you had sort of Right Wing talk radio getting directly involved than the race in trying to mobilize the Tea Party base. They had an impact.

I read it the way that you just did which is, you know, because this talk radio host went in and whipped up for frenzy, you had the result that you did and the danger for the country is that if that happens repeatedly, you have a very narrow band to the country with the far Right Tea Party band running the show in the House of Representatives. That was already the danger.

I mean, speaker Boehner has already seeded a lot of control in the House to the Tea Party folks. This will make it even worse. That`s what -- we haven`t had a vote on the Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill. We can`t get a vote on raising the minimum wage. We can`t get a vote on universal background checks for guns. We can`t even get a vote on lots of these things and that`s because Speaker Boehner was already worried about losing control to the Tea Party Caucus in the House. This will make all those problems even worse.

DYSON: Well, can we flip it a little bit and say look, it might make the obstruction worse and might mean a further move to the right, which is bad for Republicans but does it give Democrats an opportunity to really kind of wiggle themselves into better position?

HOLLEN: Well, I do think that since the Republicans are now going to be talking to a more and more narrow band in the country, that all their politics will be geared toward this very vocal minority in the Tea Party wing. Yes, that they will begin to lose the conversation with the broad American public.

Because the broad American public whether they`re Democrats, Independents, or even many Republicans are looking for a congress that wants to solve problems. And to the extent that Republics here in the House continue to answer to a very vocal but very small and extreme group in the country. I think they`re going to continue to lose this for the American people.

So, I think the country looses as a result of this but the country has to response, which is try to make sure you elect people who want to solve problems. And as the Democrats in the House were asking for our votes on these important issues that help move the country forward.

DYSON: Well, from your mouth (inaudible), Congressman Van Hollen thanks so much for your time tonight.

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