The leadership PAC of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost to a Tea Party challenger on Tuesday in a stunning Republican primary upset, has donated $169,500 to Minnesota candidates over the past decade, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Leadership political action committees take in money and donate it to like-minded campaigns.
During that time period, Cantor's Every Republican is Crucial PAC has donated $40,000 to Rep. Erik Paulsen, $35,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann and $34,500 to Rep. John Kline.
Cantor's PAC has also donated to former congressmen Jim Ramstad, Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy, who Cantor also supported during his failed 2006 U.S. Senate run against Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Former Sen. Norm Coleman's 2008 campaign against Sen. Al Franken received a $5,000 boost from Cantor.
In 2010, he backed Randy Demmers's campaign against Rep. Tim Walz in the First Congressional District with a $5,000 donation.
In 2012, he donated $10,000 to former Eight District U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack who lost to current congressmen Rick Nolan. This cycle, he's donated $10,000 to Nolan's challenger, Stewart Mills III.
Cantor has also donated $5,000 to state Sen. Torrey Westrom's campaign in the Seventh Congressional District, marking the first time he's put money behind a candidate vying to unseat Rep. Collin Peterson.
Cantor has also been an ally to Minnesota's Republicans in his role as Majority Leader.
This year, he's helped Paulsen shepherd anti-sex trafficking legislation through the House.
A charter school advocate, Cantor has backed Kline's efforts to enact school choice legislation and rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act.
Cantor and Kline also are among a select group of Republicans tasked with developing a viable GOP alternative to the Affordable Care Act, President Obama's health care law.
