Eric Cantor

His family emigrated from Russia, Romania, and Latvia in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Eric Ivan Cantor (born June 6, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented Virginia's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2014.

Prior to serving in the House of Representatives, Cantor represented the 73rd district in the Virginia House of Delegates.

His father was the state treasurer for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign.

Cantor was raised in Conservative Judaism.

He graduated from the Collegiate School, a co-ed private school in Richmond, in 1981.

He enrolled at George Washington University (GW) in 1981; as a freshman he worked as an intern for House Republican Tom Bliley of Virginia, and was Bliley's driver in the 1982 campaign.

Cantor was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity while at GW and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1985.

He earned a Juris Doctor degree from William & Mary Law School in 1988, and received a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University in 1989.

Cantor worked in his family's real estate business before being elected to Congress.

Cantor announced on March 14, 2000, that he would seek the seat in the United States House of Representatives that was being vacated by Tom Bliley.

Cantor had chaired Bliley's reelection campaigns for the previous six years, and immediately gained the support of Bliley's political organization, as well as Bliley's endorsement later in the primary.

However, Cantor still faced an extremely spirited challenge in the primary and won that election by only a razor-thin margin of 263 votes out of over 40,000 cast.

During his first term, Cantor was chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.

He has also served on the House Financial Services Committee and on the House International Relations Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Cantor served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to January 1, 2001.

At various times he was a member of committees on Science and Technology, Corporation Insurance and Banking, General Laws, Courts of Justice, (co-chairman) Claims.

In 2002, weeks after winning a second term, Cantor was appointed by Republican Whip Roy Blunt to be Chief Deputy Republican Whip, the highest appointed position in the Republican caucus.

On November 19, 2008, Cantor was unanimously elected Republican Whip for the 111th Congress, after serving as Deputy Whip for six years under Blunt.

Blunt had decided not to seek reelection to the post after Republican losses in the previous two elections.

Cantor was the first member of either party from Virginia to hold the position of Party Whip.

As Whip, Cantor was the second-ranking House Republican, behind Minority Leader John Boehner.

He was charged with coordinating the votes and messages of Republican House members.

A Republican, Cantor served as House Minority Whip from 2009 to 2011, and as House Majority Leader from 2011 to 2014.

In the fall of 2010, Cantor wrote a New York Times bestselling book, Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders, with the other two founding members of Young Guns.

They describe the vision outlined in the book as "a clear agenda based on common sense for the common good".

Cantor said in 2010 that he worked with the Tea Party movement in his district.

Cantor became the Majority Leader when the 112th Congress took office on January 3, 2011, after Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives.

In this position, he remained second-in-command to Boehner, who was the leader of the House Republicans.

Cantor was a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Republican National Committee.

He is one of the Republican Party's top fundraisers, having raised over $30 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

He is also one of the three founding members of the GOP Young Guns Program.

His congressional district included most of the northern and western sections of Richmond, along with most of Richmond's western suburbs, and until redistricting in 2013 also portions of the Shenandoah Valley.

As House Majority Leader, Cantor was named in House Resolution 368, which was passed by the House Rules Committee on the night of September 30, 2013, the night before the October 2013 government shutdown began, as the only member of the House with the power to bring forth bills and resolutions for a vote if both chambers of Congress disagree on that bill or resolution.

In June 2014, in his bid for reelection, Cantor lost the Republican primary to economics professor Dave Brat in an upset that greatly surprised political analysts.

In response, Cantor announced his early resignation as House Majority Leader.

Several weeks later, he announced his resignation from Congress, which took effect on August 18, 2014.

Shortly thereafter, Cantor accepted a position as vice chairman of investment bank Moelis & Company.

At the time of his resignation, Cantor was the highest-ranking Jewish member of Congress in its history and the only non-Christian Republican in either house.

Cantor, the second of three children, was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Mary Lee (née Hudes), a schoolteacher, and Eddie Cantor, who owned a real estate firm.