He was a canary in the coalmine for Trumpism. Now he’s heading to Canberra

Updated August 8, 2026 — 12:24pm,first published August 8, 2026 — 5:25am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

Washington: Before there was Abdul El-Sayed, the left-wing insurgent who upset the Democratic establishment in Michigan this week, there was David Brat.

The former Republican congressman, appointed by Donald Trump to be ambassador to Australia, was finally confirmed by the Senate on Friday (US time). But in Washington, he is best known for shocking the political elite by defeating sitting House of Representatives speaker Eric Cantor in a Republican primary for his Virginia seat in 2014.

Tea Party Republicans claimed it as a momentous victory. “This is a miracle from God that has happened,” Brat, a deeply religious Calvinist, told supporters at his election night party.

“Dollars do not vote – you do … Power belongs to the people, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

It was a speech rebuking the system and the massive amount of outside funding that flowed to his opponent. It was the exact message El-Sayed delivered 12 years later.

Socialists are doing a Trump to the Democrats. US politics is unlikely to return to........

© The Age