republican primary. it's an upset that has since sent shock waves through washington. cantor who rode a wave of votes to be house party leader, he stunned supporters last night. >> obviously, we came up short. i know there's a lot of long faces here tonight and it's disappointing, sure. but i believe in this country. i believe there's opportunity around the next corner for all of us. so i'll look forward to continuing to fight with all of you for the things that we believe in for the conservative cause because those solutions are ours are the answer to the problems that so many people are facing today. thank you all very, very much. >> the upset surprised both parties from southern republicans who nancy pelosi whose dinner party reportedly turned into an impromptu celebration. if you're following informal polls, cantor's lead seemed to be air tight with a 34-point lead. as most recent headlines, accountant dore was clobbering brat 25-1. and even spending more on steak. and not everyone was surprised. according to "the washington post" they were, quote, waved off. big news. a complete shocker overnight. good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, june 11th. we've got mark halperin. and also in washington, al hunt, msnbc political analyst and former chair of the republican national committee, michael steele. and senior political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein. >> john holland, nick and i were at a "the new york times" event, and people started sort of whispering. >> yeah, blackberrys. >> he held up a blackberry and said, look at this, he's losing. you were out there. you were at an event last night, just an absolute total shock. >> and mark and i were at a different together with a couple other people who know a lot about politics, i think the reaction at the table was this is totally incredulity. like this must be the onion, like, really? how is this happening there are few things that happen in politics that are genuinely surprises that no one saw coming. even the most informed political insider saw on the horizon. this is one of those things. when something like this happens, it knocks everyone back on their heels. everybody is starting to filling out what does this mean? there's obvious implications i'm sure we'll discuss. >> there are so many sides to the story. this guy brat had two people working for him. his campaign manager is 23 years old. but big picture, what happened? >> well, people are going to try to figure that out down the road. i can tell you that, i stopped being afraid of flying, when someone said to relax. when an airplane goes down it's not because one thing happens unless an asteroid falls out of the sky and hits, it's a hundred things. and david colin warning everybody not to jump to conclusions. lindsey graham, at the center what his creditics called grah m graham-nesty. the fact that he spent more money on steak than his opponent spent on his entire campaign. >> it was good steak, though. let's not knock him for that. >> people are going to try to figure out the why the next couple of days. clearly, a lot will have to do with immigration. a lot will have to go he went with a national profile. he went with a tv strategy, rather than a grassroots strategy. didn't bring in people like rand paul and others to help him. the implications of this is a much bigger story than why he lost. what happens in congress now, what happens in the republican party. some republicans criticizesed the press and democrats say there's a war within the republican party. make no mistake, there's a war within the republican party. how is eric cantor replaced. does he stay on as leader to address congress? those are kwe huge questions. >> i don't want to be thick, but that's what i do are well, al. all of those people looking around for a thad cochran scalp. i saw this guy briefly last night. 30, 45 seconds in an off-the-cuff cheap tv ad. i said, wow, this guy's articulate. he's relaxed. and he's a guy that i would trust if i were a voter. again, i'm not saying that the tea party is not out there. and this isn't a tea party war, blah, blah. i think we can overplay that, though. sometimes, you have these guys that go to washington, as you know, better than anybody that just get out of touch with their voters at home. so before we oversell this as an anti-immigration vote. and a huge victory for the tea party, maybe we should look closer at the two candidates here that were actually running the race. >> well, joe, that may be. first of all you it's the biggest shock i've ever seen in electoral politics. eric cantor was at a fund-raiser yesterday morning in washington. this guy didn't spend any money. one message here, if you got bobby van stock sell it. the other thing, this is not a right wing district. this is not your red neck riviera. i was born in that district. this is a very republican district. one that mark warner carried barack obama 46%. i think this is a grassroots, whatever you call it, tea party, right wing, throw the rascals out, whatever. the implications are profound. i don't think immigration even has a slim chance. the house for the rest of this congress is going to be focused on nothing but the house majority and nothing but the leadership level. and that lever is a conducive atmosphere for getting things done. >> eric cantor in his last primary two years ago, won with 79% of the vote. his races haven't been close. we saw that poll that mika showed. 62-28 is when he had going. then he loses by double digits. the race wasn't even close last night. what is your analysis of what happened? >> this is the tea party and the establishment, in the sense they stayed to their game plan. i remember one of my last meetings with tea party when i was rnc chairman. the board is, we brought you into office, we'll take you out of office. that's really been part of their mantra for the last few years. it's how do we chip away at the establishment control of the republican party top to what mark said and al said, there absolutely is, and has to be resolved an internal struggle over the heart and mind of this party. and you're going to see this play out even more and more with a next few cycles. this does not get resolved with a tea party victory tonight nor with an establishment victory next week. >> michael, to push back with the republican party, and the rise of the new tea party, why did lindsey graham who is one of the most moderate guys in washington, d.c. and comes from one of the most conservative states of south carolina, why did he win last night? why did newt gingrich who was talking about immigration reform more than anybody in 2012 win the south carolina primary in 2012? he won because he was the best candidate. he was the best debater. i just don't think we should over -- i'm saying this to myself and everybody else, i don't think we should oversimplify what happened last night. sometimes, guys like eric cantor are just radically out of touch with their district in ways that have nothing to do with politics. >> joe that's absolutely right. there's no doubt about it. but keep in mind, south carolina is also very much a changing political environment as well for the party prp so i think their dynamics specific to south carolina that may explain some of that. i'm not trying oversimplify it. i'm just saying that's part of a growing narrative that still needs to be resolved within the party. >> no question eric cantor is a big name. everyone knew who he was. and now two professors running against each other from the same college. >> that is unheard of. >> maybe -- >> okay. >> it's a great school. >> it is a great school. it's god's country. >> as it pertains to dave brat, who the heck is this guy. take a look. >> chris mcdaniel is -- >> i'm joni ernst. >> i'm matt devin. >> reporter: these are the tea party candidates you were supposed to be following but dave brat has gone to front page news. >> this is the happiest day of my life. and i owe it to all of you in this room number one. so give yourself a hand. >> reporter: an economics professor from tiny randolph college, anybody but cantor. >> it's not personal, i'm not running against eric. but i'm running against folks who stay up there too long and turn from the district to represent folks in d.c. >> reporter: brat went after cantor for not staying true to republican principles. >> i do not think eric cantor understands who they are. >> reporter: he picked up mark levin and laura ingraham. >> the voters of the seventh district are being barraged with things like this, radical professor, i'm going to throw granny off the cliff. these are the depths to which eric cantor will go to lie about a good man's record. >> reporter: he's going for a full repeal of obama care and has hammered cantor for backing immigration reform. >> he voted to give president obama a clean debt ceiling increase, handy is pushing for amnesty. >> 11 million are going back before our congressman cantore and the rest of the democrats announced they're going to let kids stay. >> so sam stein, if you have a guy like that going around your district all the time. and you're holding fund-raisers in washington, d.c., the morning of your election. and going across the country raising money for everybody else because you want to be speaker of the house sometime, that's not good -- i mean, seriously, again, i know people are absolutely shocked when i actually draw from personal experiences when i was in washington, d.c. >> what? >> i suppose i should when talking about this race, talk about when i was a football coach at catholic high school. but what the hell. i'm going to talk about the four races i ran. successfully. i would no-no more be in washington, d.c. within three miles of my campaign. at a fund-raiser? i mean, knocking on wood. even when -- you know, the last time i won with 80% of the vote, i was sweating it out in august, knocking on doors. holding town hall meetings. going crazy. assumes i was 40 points behind. and most people that like staying in washington, d.c. do that. cantor took his eye off the balle here, didn't he? >> i believe so. i've been studying david brat's record for all of six hours. i know he connected with the voters. i think you actually hit the nail on the head. objectively, i don't think that there was a really great case to make that eric cantor was some sort of a moderate or liberal. the problem, at least to people i contacted in republican and democratic circles was there was a lack of sincerity in eric keernt. take immigration reform, he was sending out mailers in the last few weeks arguing he was anti-amnesty. and anti-immigration in the race. and people just laughed at it because he had been in washington, d.c., making the public lines, always saying that immigration reform wasn't dead. floating the possibility of a dream act. when you do that, you begin to be called an insincere paul. i think that was a big problem for eric cantor last night. >> and al heim, we're going to richmond in a minute. but if you're going to do that, and newt talked about this last night, if you're for the dream act, then go home and hold town hall meetings. and tell people why you're for the dream act. and, say, hey, i do this all the time. you may not agree with me. but listen, here i am. i'm going to be here for two hours. let's talk about this. and you go across your district, 10, or 20 times by the end of it, people say i don't agree with him completely, but i understand where he's coming from. eric cantor never did that. >> no question, joe, he became out of touch. let me just address immigration for a second. eric cantor was for the dream act but that's only a small business of immigration reform. he's well to the right of marco rubio on immigration. this is not some let them all in, the pathway to citizenship for everybody. for a little bit, sam probably has an hour more of study of mr. brat than i do. but based on my exposure, immigration was an important issue that brat raised and he raised it continuously. i think again, whether it's right or wrong, the message he sends to colleagues is, boy -- >> let me jump in. he raised immigration in a nuanced way. he framed cantor as being a crony corporatelist. eric cantor wants to bring immigrants into this country to go work for corporations like facebook. he was saying he was doing it for his own political emphasis or political donors. >> and willie geist, and we talked about it on air with a few people here. but this campaign is a textbook way for republicans to win in the future. well, you're not just airport big government. you're anti-big business. you're anti-crony capitalism. >> anti-establishment. >> anti-establishment. and you're just as offended as a big bill on wall street as obamacare. it's the insider's winning. and obamacare, it's the american hospital association and big pharma and big companies cutting deals so they're taken care of while small businesses are hurt, which the truth. on the bank bailouts, you've got the biggest banks in the world winning while everybody else is getting screwed. last night -- we got to go to richmond first and we'll continue this conversation. >> i know. >> i know everyone wants to jump in. >> by the way, most of us hadn't heard that, brat said, what you're saying right there is basically what he said in his speech last night. let's go to richmond, julian walkered conferred state government for the virginia pilot. julian, good morning. thanks for being on with us. take us inside what happened last night. what we're hearing, most of the reporting coming out that cantor was aloof. that his field evidence was basically nonexistent. he had taken this for granted. he was at a fund-raiser on capitol hill on election day. what else are we missing about this story here because it was such a shock? >> you're absolutely right. it's shocking. it caused earthquakes within the virginia establishment and circles. longtime republican. there were some hints that there might be trouble on the horizon. but even all the available public polling suggested that a victory for brat would be if he scored over 40%. instead, he won by double digits. and this was not a low turnout primary race. it was 68,000 votes in this district. eric cantor lost his home county which borders between the capitol city. lost hanover county, the county just north of that. meanwhile, in the northern virginia 8th district primary which had multiple democratic candidates, he had 35,000 show up. is this blowing people's minds. the one thing i would point out again, the hint on the horizon here. just about a month ago, eric cantor's handpicked party boss was defeated for a local seat for the district committee chairmanship after they had an iron grip on that position. >> julian that was obviously seen as a warning sign. from my understanding derrick kitts tweeted out something that more people voted in this 2014 primary than in the 2012 primary in the presidential year. the question is, is that all republican tea party-types? or an open primary where democrats can swarm over and vote against eric cantor because they dislike him so much? >> reporter: well, virginia is not a state for open primaries here. it's probable a mix of both as you pointed out. there was no major tea party group that endorsed dave brat, but the underpinning of this race, there was tea party support from spokes upset with establishment that many of your panelists have pointed out. i think it's a mix of things. whether this is chaos with democrats crossing over in droves to knock off eric cantor, i'm not sure of that. but i think there's small elements of that in the electorate. >> we've got a lot to get to. another school shooting, this time at the second largest high school in oregon. one student, a 14-year-old was killed. and a teacher was wounded. i believe a coach was. in the 74th shooting at an american school since the massacre in 2012. >> reporter: at 8:00 a.m., emergency calls come in. >> we've got shots fired. and we all have at this point a shooter with possibly a flak jacket. >> reporter: police and tactical gear move in. a shooter is on the loose. he saw the gunman. >> she was carrying a gun running out with one of our teachers. >> reporter: the track teacher was wounded and will recover. he was armed with a rifle, a law enforcement service tells nbc news he was a student and it's believed the gunman took his own life. students hungered down while officers swept the school, classroom by classroom. >> the cops came in with their guns and evacuated us out. >> we saw people running everywhere. people screaming. we didn't know what was going on. we went to the back of the classroom, we were all scared. >> reporter: frantic parents gathered just off campus, tense moments as they waited for their children. >> i just want to hug my girl. i just want to hold her. i just want to hold her tight and get her home. >> i'll tell you, if -- >> reporter: one by one, students emerged. tearful reunions. families embracing. denise blalock finally back with son tate. >> eye just got to touch him and know he's okay. >> reporter: many have questions, what was the shooter's motive. white bloodshed in this latest school shooting that has claimed more lives. >> it's becoming commonplace, when you break down 74 school shootings since december 14th, 2012, that equals more than one incident per school week. is that where we are? there have been ten alone in georgia, followed by seven in florida, tennessee, and north carolina, also multiple incidentses there. there's been a sharp increase in the number of shootings so far this year. there have been 37 different incidents so far which is nearly double in this time in 2013 when there were 19 school shootings. >> willie, we talked about this obviously a lot after sandy hook. you look at the 74 shootings at schools. >> nothing has changed. >> yesterday was the last day, jack and kate's last day. at school, you go there and bring them home. then you hear these stories that there's just -- every week, it is an average every week. of a school shooting. and the second you start talking about shootings both sides go to their corners. the liberals immediately say it's all about gun control. and republicans immediately say, you know, it's video games or hollywood culture. but, i mean, we got to figure something out. >> you know, you watch that piece from miguel -- >> this is the status quo. this status quo is unacceptable. it is unacceptable. to say this is the way america is unacceptable. >> no parent should have to stand outside police tape or outside the school and wonder if their child is going to come out dead. that just shouldn't happen. >> that's where we are. >> school is supposed to be a safe place. it's supposed to jar us. we're not just talking guns here. sandy hook was supposed to jar us into change. and if you look at the past year and a half since sandy hook, nothing's changed. nothing. absolutely nothing. it is an epidemic. it is an epidemic that continues. we talked about it before. you just can't talk about guns. you just can't talk about a violent culture. you can't talk about mental health. you have to talk about all of them in tandem. but nobody would. everybody went to their correspondence. again, once a week on average there say shooting at a school. this is not the price of admission for a free society. i'm sorry. this is not the price of admission for a free society. so, you know what, you go ahead and you do whatever, say whatever you want to say on the internet in your crazed corners, but we parents want to be able to take our children to school. and washington ought to be able to figure out how to come together, get people in the far right, people in the far left. and get the rest of us in the sensible center on this issue of keeping children safe in schoo