Eric Cantor

Eric Ivan Cantor ( born June 6, 1963 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American politician. He is a member of the Republican Party since 2001 and Representative for the Seventh Congressional District of Virginia in the House of Representatives of the United States. He was the Republican Whip since 2009 and was 3 January 2011 Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.

Biography

Eric Cantor grew up in a conservative Jewish home. His ancestors came from Eastern Europe and migrated in the early 20th century in the United States a. Cantor's father was in 1980 treasurer of the campaign team of Ronald Reagan. Eric Cantor attended the private school Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia and graduated from the George Washington University, where in 1985 he received a Bachelor of Arts and the College of William & Mary, where he graduated in 1988 with a Juris Doctor. At Columbia University, he also studied real estate development in 1989 and received a Master of Science.

In 1981, as a freshman at George Washington University, he worked for Tom Bliley, the then representative of the 7th District of Virginia in the House of Representatives. During the election campaign In 1982, he worked as a driver Blileys. After studying Cantor has worked as a businessman and attorney in the operation of his family.

From 1992 until 1 January 2001 he was a member of the Lower House of Virginia. Since January 3, 2001 he has been a deputy in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his first term he was chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. He also served on the House Financial Services Committee and the Committee on Ways and Means. In the following three terms he served as Deputy Whip. November 19, 2008, Cantor was unanimously elected Republican Whip the.

In August 2008, Cantor was considered a possible candidate for the office of Vice President in the presidential elections of 2008.

Cantor has, together with Mr Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan in September 2010, a book titled Young Guns - published a new generation of conservative leaders, in which the authors criticize the Republican establishment and a return of the Republicans to conservative values ​​and a strict anti - expenditure policy demand.

After the Republicans had won 2010 seats in the November elections and won a majority in the House of Representatives, Cantor was elected on January 3, 2011 to the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives of the 112th Congress and is thus after Speaker John Boehner, the number two of the Republican Party.

Of the 45 members of the Jewish faith in the 111th Congress Cantor was the only Republican. Since 1989, he is married to Diana Fine Cantor. They have three children, Evan, Jenna and Michael.

Cantor wants to improve the education system and calls for a simpler tax system.