After Toppling Ex-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Tea Party Favorite David Brat Cruises to Victory

David Brat, the Republican who unseated ex-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in June, cruised to victory Tuesday night, according to multiple news outlets.

Brat, who faced off with Democrat Jack Trammell, won the race for Virginia's 7th congressional district.

Despite both teaching at Randolph-Macon College, the two presented a different vision for America's future while courting voters.

College economics professor and Republican candidate for Congress David Brat poses for a photograph after attending the Henrico County Republican Party breakfast meeting April 26, 2014 in Glen Allen, Virginia. Brat went on to a surprise defeat of incumbent House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the June 10 primary. (Jay Paul/Getty Images)

Brat rode a wave of tea-party backed support to a stunning upset of Cantor last summer and is favored to win the heavily Republican 7th Congressional District in central Virginia, which includes the Richmond-area suburbs. Brat repeatedly played up his role as an economics professor in the debate, saying said he would be the best choice to help spur the U.S. economy.

"You can vote for someone who supports President Obama's policies like Jack does, or you can vote for someone who knows from hundreds of years of economic history that top-down, centralized government planning fails every single time it's been tried," Brat said.

Trammell defended some of Obama's policies, criticized others, and tried to position himself as a bipartisan dealmaker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

—

Follow Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) on Twitter