David Brat

David Alan Brat (born July 27, 1964) is an American academic and former politician. A member of the Republican Party, Brat served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district from 2014 to 2019.

Brat came to national prominence when he defeated the U.S. House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, in the 2014 Republican primary in Virginia's 7th congressional district. His primary victory, which he achieved with the support of the Tea Party movement, made Brat the first primary challenger to oust a sitting House Majority Leader since the position's creation in 1899. Brat went on to win the 2014 general election and was re-elected to Congress in 2016. During his congressional tenure, Brat was known as a conservative Republican and a member of the Freedom Caucus. He was defeated by Democrat Abigail Spanberger in the 2018 election.

In January 2019, Brat was named dean of the Liberty University School of Business.

Early life and education

David Alan Brat was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 27, 1964. His father, Paul, was a doctor of internal medicine; his mother, Nancy, was employed as a social worker in Alma, Michigan, where he was raised. His family moved from Alma to Minnesota when David, the oldest of three boys, was in junior high. Brat graduated from Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

Brat earned a B.A. in business administration from Hope College in 1986, a master's degree in divinity (M.Div.) from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990 and a Ph.D. in economics from American University in 1995.

Academic career

After working for Arthur Andersen and as a consultant for the World Bank, Brat joined the faculty of Randolph–Macon College in 1996 as an economics professor. For six years, Brat chaired the College's department of ethics and business. At Randolph-Macon, Brat taught courses including "Britain in the International Economy", "International Economic Development", and "Business Ethics".

From 2010 to 2012, Brat headed Randolph-Macon's BB&T Moral Foundations of Capitalism program. Endowed by the BB&T Corporation, the program was one of 60 similar programs devoted to the study of capitalism and morality in philosophy and economics departments at U.S. universities.

In 2006, Brat was appointed by Virginia governor Tim Kaine to the Governor's Advisory Board of Economists. He has also served on the board of directors of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority, and on the advisory board of the Virginia Public Access Project.

In January 2019, following his defeat in the 2018 congressional election, Brat was named dean of the Liberty University School of Business. In May 2023, Brat became Vice Provost for Engagement and Public Relations at Liberty.

Scholarship and ideas

Brat has asserted that culture matters in economic markets. He believes that the culture that produced Adam Smith was a Protestant culture, and that the ethics of that culture are important in understanding market efficiency. Brat has advocated that Christians should forcefully support free-market capitalism and behave altruistically, in the manner of Jesus, so that "we would not need the government to backstop every action we take".

According to Kevin Roose in a ''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 properly seen in the context of Christian moral philosophy". Furthering the central theme of Max Weber's seminal book ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,'' Brat argues in his 2004 paper ''Economic Growth and Institutions: The Rise and Fall of the Protestant Ethic?'' that "institutions such as religion, democracy and government anti-diversion policies all significantly enhance a country's long-run economic performance", and concludes that "the religion variable may be the strongest ex ante, exogenous institutional variable in the literature".

In a paper entitled ''Is Growth Exogenous? Taking Bernanke Seriously'', Brat criticized Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Brat asserted that Bernanke's work on economic growth overlooks the role of religious institutions—especially Protestant religious institutions—in a country's economic growth. Brat added that while savings rates, population growth, and human capital accumulation help drive economic growth, the larger factor is "the Protestant religious establishment", which Bernanke ignores.

Brat has blamed the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany on the lack of "unified resistance", adding, "I have the sinking feeling that it could all happen again, quite easily". Brat believes that countries with Protestant histories have economic advantages over countries that do not have such histories, 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". He believes in Christ as a transformer of culture, and that world transformation can be achieved when capitalism and Christianity merge. Brat reasons that if people follow the Christian gospel and, as a consequence, behave morally, markets will improve.

In 2025, Brat defended President Donald Trump's tariffs, arguing that they were a necessary "attempt to put capital back in the hands of Americans."

Early political career

Beginning in 2015, Brat volunteered as a special legislative assistant to Virginia state senator Walter Stosch, working on education issues.

2011 Virginia House of Delegates campaign

In August 2011, Brat announced his candidacy for the Virginia House of Delegates seat for the 56th district. There was no primary, and six Republican leaders met and chose Peter Farrell as the Republican nominee for the November 2011 general election.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014

Republican primary

In 2014, Brat challenged House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary. Brat's campaign was notable for its lack of resources and traditional campaign tactics. Brat was outspent by Cantor 40 to 1; Cantor spent over $5 million, while Brat raised $200,000 and did not spend all of it. Brat's primary campaign was managed by 23-year-old Zachary Werrell. An analysis of campaign filings conducted by OpenSecrets concluded that Brat did not receive any donations from political action committees (PACs); the analysis noted that it was "almost impossible to profile Brat's typical donor, because he had so few". On June 10, 2014, Brat defeated Cantor, 55.5% to 44.5%.

Brat's primary victory garnered national attention, as it was the first time a sitting House Majority Leader was defeated in his primary race since the position was created in 1899. The victory was regarded as a historic upset. Brat's victory was described in the press as exposing a "deep schism" in the Republican Party between its conservative base and its business wing, as well as a split between establishment Republicans and Tea Party insurgents.

Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham endorsed Brat's candidacy and hosted a rally with him in a Richmond suburb. Brat was also supported by radio talk show host Mark Levin and Ann Coulter. Brat received support from, and gave credit for his win to, local Tea Party groups in Virginia, but received no funding or endorsement from national Tea Party organizations. As of June 2014, however, Brat had not identified with the Tea Party movement. Ron Rapoport, a political scientist at the College of William & Mary, has said Brat may be correctly identified as a "tea partier" only if the term is used as a catchall for "anti-establishment activist", while John Judis has opined that Brat could more correctly be described as a "right-wing populist". Matea Gold in ''The Washington Post'' stated, "the fact that Brat took off without the help of those organizations ational tea party groupsnow makes it harder for them to claim his victory as their own." Some libertarian groups, such as the Virginia Liberty Party, backed Brat.

Compared with Cantor, who was described as aloof, Brat was characterized as knowing how to work a crowd. He ran an anti-establishment campaign criticizing Cantor's position on illegal immigration, government bailouts and budget deals while frequently invoking God and the United States Constitution in his speeches. During the campaign, Cantor criticized Brat as a "liberal professor" who had strong ties to Tim Kaine, Virginia's former Democratic governor and current junior Senator. Brat complained that Cantor had a " crony-capitalist mentality", putting the interests of the corporate sector ahead of small businesses. Chris Peace, a state legislator who collaborated with Brat on state budget issues at Randolph-Macon College, said that Brat was inspired to run for Congress because of "his passion for the structure of government and belief in free markets."

Although the national media were shocked at Brat's victory, Richmond-area media outlets had received signs well before the primary that Cantor was in trouble. The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' reported two weeks before the primary that a number of Cantor's constituents felt he took them for granted. The ''Times-Dispatch'' also revealed that Cantor's attempt to brand Brat as a liberal professor actually made more people turn out for Brat. ''The Chesterfield Observer,'' a local paper serving Chesterfield County—roughly half of which is in the 7th—reported that Tea Party-aligned candidates had won several victories there, and at least one Cantor loyalist believed Tea Party supporters smelled "blood in the water." One local reporter told David Carr of ''The New York Times'' that many constituents believed Cantor was arrogant and unapproachable. Due to massive cutbacks, the race was severely underpolled by local media. Few Capitol Hill reporters were willing to go to Cantor's district for fear that they would be out of Washington if a major story broke.

General election

Brat faced Democratic nominee Jack Trammell, another professor at Randolph-Macon, and James Carr, a Libertarian candidate, in the November general election. Brat was favored to prevail because of the district's significant Republican enrollment advantage (the district had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+10, showing it to be the most Republican district in eastern Virginia).

Cantor announced plans to aid Brat by resigning from the United States Congress on August 18 so that a special election for the balance of Cantor's seventh term could be held on the same day as the general election for a full two-year term. Because of Cantor's move, the winner of the November election would take office with two months' more seniority than other first-term Republicans elected in the 2014 midterm elections. Furthermore, the winner would be able to participate in the 2014 lame-duck session of Congress.

Brat prevailed in the November 4 special election, winning 60.83% of the vote to Trammell's 36.95%.

2016

A court-ordered redistricting significantly changed the configuration of the 7th district. It lost its share of the city of Richmond to the neighboring 4th District; the 7th district and its predecessors had included all or part of Richmond for over a century (it had been numbered as the 3rd District before 1993). The district also lost Hanover County to the 1st District.

Brat defeated Democrat Eileen Bedell, 57.5% to 42.2%, in the general election on November 8, 2016.

2018

Brat ran for a third term in 2018 against Henrico native and former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger. The race was rated "Safe Republican" by the nonpartisan ''Cook Political Report

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