Dave Brat

“I'm a Ph.D. in economics, and so you analyze every situation uniquely because every international situation is unique.”

“A vote for Eric Cantor is a vote for open borders. A vote for Eric Cantor is a vote for amnesty.”

“The media does play a vital role in our democracy, and if we cannot depend on journalistic ethics, the nation's in trouble.”

“The good news is dollars don't vote, people do.”

“The American people want to pay attention to serious ideas again. Our founding was built by people who were political philosophers, and we need to get back to that, away from this kind of cheap political rhetoric of Right and Left.”

“If we make all of the people good, markets will be good. If markets are bad, which they are, that means people are bad, which they are. Want good markets? Change the people.”

“I don't think the federal government should be involved in making life work, right? I mean, the enumerated powers - the state level is fine. The local level's fine. But not - I do not want the federal government trying to make my life work.”

“The Left likes to think of itself as the bulwark of progressive liberal individualism, and yet it seeks to progressively coerce others to fund every social program under the sun via majority rule.”

“'Free markets' is not a liberal or conservative issue. The rule of law is not a Right or Left issue. Those are American principles since our founding, and to the extent that other countries follow our lead... they will prosper. That's what I want, because every one of those people is a child of God.”

“I take policy seriously; I'm not just trying to be a political hack.”

“I like Ronald Reagan, who didn't play crass politics, and he just articulated and delivered on broad themes that were needed. Free markets meant free markets. Deregulation. Lower tax rates. Strong national defense. And he was credible and believable.”

“I've been a conservative my whole life. There is nothing hard-right or far-right about anything. I just believe in ideas and that ideas matter in history, and that's my background, and that's the way I'd like to be portrayed.”