As Republican House members filed into the basement meeting room to say goodbye to Eric Cantor, they pushed past reporters in the packed hallway, largely ignoring shouted questions about the race for Republican Majority Leader.
But Texas Representative Pete Sessions strode up to the cameras and explained why he was the best candidate.
Sessions couldn’t have made it any clearer why he was running: to send a message to the White House on immigration reform.
For Sessions it was likely a clear conclusion from Cantor’s loss. The anti-amnesty critics faulted Cantor for vowing to work with the Obama administration on immigration reform, and Cantor lost his primary.
Sessions just recently beat a Tea Party challenger in his own primary who campaigned against him for his immigration stance.
Katrina Pierson, who was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, challenged Sessions for endorsing “a guest worker program,” which would allow illegal immigrants to obtain legal status.