Remember back in 2014, when House Majority Leader and theoretical future House Speaker Eric Cantor lost his primary in embarrassing fashion to Randolph-Macon college professor Dave Brat?
At issue in that race were a few things.
Yes, Cantor's role in pushing comprehensive immigration reform behind the scenes was a factor.
Some rural constituents also did not like what was perceived as his arch-libertarian dogmatic approach to free trade.
Some didn't think he was tough enough on then-President Obama.
But the biggest reason Cantor lost was that his rural constituents, especially, came to the conclusion that he wasn't focused on representing them and was more intent on crisscrossing the country and hanging out in Washington, D.C., in furtherance of his national political ambitions.
Complaints were persistently aired within rural communities, especially, about Cantor's poor constituent service.
His staff were accused of being "arrogant and unresponsive to his constituents."
So it's more than a little amusing that twelve years on, Cantor is being considered for the top job as a Big Pharma lobbyist as chief of trade association PhRMA:
More than four months into PhRMA’s search for a new CEO, the lobbying group has considered Republican candidates with experience spanning decades on Capitol Hill and executive know-how.
According to multiple industry sources familiar with the discussions, granted anonymity to discuss private talks, candidates in the mix have included former Republican Reps. Greg Walden and Eric Cantor, former Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and former CMS Administrator Seema Verma, who served as part of the first Trump administration.
PhRMA, and the broader drugmaker industry, has in recent years come under fire for one former member's involvement in spurring the opioid crisis, for current members' efforts to dismantle the 340B drug discount program, and for maintaining high drug prices, especially on insulin, blood pressure medication, cancer medication, and anti-HIV and AIDS drugs. All of those are top tier health care issues in red, rural America– and not ones where rank and file voters line up with the industry.
It's worth noting also that former Rep. Walden is under consideration. He's a lobbyist now, but before he exited Congress, he was also tight with the drugmaker industry.
Since then, Walden has cozied up with health care interests that are more sympathetic to rural Americans– his lobbying firm represents the National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc. Notably, however, community health centers partnered with PhRMA on an initiative called ASAP 340B, which would have cut most providers other than community health centers out of the drug discount program.
In any event, with the possible exception of Verma, all the names under consideration seem pretty old school and out-of-touch with the current political moment, which in its own way would be extremely on brand for a major K Street outfit.
A parting thought: Pity poor Sen. Bill Cassidy. He has been a staunch ally to PhRMA throughout his time in the Senate, and will be in need of a new job in January. And he doesn't even appear to be on PhRMA's shortlist for the gig.
Ouch.
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