As we have seen in the short amount of time since Cantor's suprising primary loss, the media is keen to attribute it to Cantor's supposed support for immigration reform. Regardless of the lazy-reporting nature of this narrative, there will undoubtedly be debate on our side on whether or not this makes immigration reform a harder objective to achieve, and whether this topic should be avoided for now to avoid similar Republican mobilization in November.
While I would agree that we should avoid reading too much into Cantor's singular loss, I nevertheless feel like it actually offers an opportunity Democrats should capitalize on to actually reinvigorate the push for immigration reform.
Coupled with the success of the Affordable Care Act, expanding Social Security, and the growing support for the always popular policy of raising the minimum wage, a concerted effort by Democrats to continue to push for - and highlight Republican obstructionism on - immigration reform could be a political windfall this year.
First of all, despite what the Cantor primary may suggest, immigration reform remains extremely popular with the American public, including among Republicans. And considering the US's demographic reality, it will continue to be an important issue until it gets done. So despite what media commentators may say, there's no reason for Democrats to run away from immigration reform.
Furthermore, regardless of what Democrats do, Republicans who have late primaries will probably make immigration reform an issue for them. Many Tea Party challengers will probably take their cues from the Dave Brat playbook and hype up the immigration dog whistles. Many embattled incumbents will probably want to avoid a Cantor debacle and try to get ahead of these maneuverings with anti-immigration rhetoric of their own. But with the rabid Conservative base that comes out for the primaries, they will have no choice but to take more of an anti-immigration reform stance than is likely in line with the general electorate. Every opportunity these Republicans take to bash immigration reform will become ready ammo to use against them later. These developments can only help Democrats in the run up to the general elections.
In addition, it provides Democrats with an easy angle to beat up their opponents: in the wake of Cantor's loss, hyping up a challenger's anti-immigration reform status will not be seen as all that unusual anymore.
Regardless, Republican anti-immigration reform antics will only be contained within their own party, unless Democrats make immigration reform a focal point for general voters. With the Republican candidates doing all the rabid demogoguery, Democrats have a rare opportunity to stand alone as the rational, supportable voices on this important issue. And better yet, with this opportunistic soapbox, they have an opportunity to push as progressive an agenda as possible, which will make Republican attacks all the more extreme and harder to reconcile with their own fanciful proposals.
The point is, there is no downside for Democrats to push immigration reform right now. The Cantor defeat is a huge, unforced error on the Republican Party's part. But the Democratic Party must first step up to the plate if they hope to drive in a run.