AP
Potential 2016 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave her take on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's stunning loss in the Republican primary in his Virginia district during a conversation with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at Chicago Ideas Week Wednesday.
According to Politico, Clinton used the fact Cantor's Tea party-backed challenger, David Brat, used an anti-immigration reform platform to win in order to discuss her support for immigration reform.
"We just saw the race in Virginia where Eric Cantor was … defeated by a candidate, who basically ran against immigration," Clinton said. "His argument is there are Americans out of work, so why should we allow immigrants into our country to take those jobs? The answer is not to throw out of work […] or deport the 11 million immigrants who are contributing already to our economy. The answer is to grow our economy, to create more jobs."
Clinton further argued "one of our greatest strengths is that we are a nation of immigrants."
"I think we have to be very clear about where we need to focus…on creating more jobs, and also focusing on remaining welcoming to immigrants and making clear that there are a lot of immigrants in this city today that are doing jobs that keep the city going," she said.
Cantor's defeat was bad news for immigration reform supporters like Clinton. His diminished the already-slim change the issue would be taken up from this contrast. Shortly after Cantor's loss Tuesday one Senate Democratic aide declared the issue "dead" in an email to Business Insider.