Can a top Republican from a bygone political era fix pharma’s woes in Washington?

WASHINGTON — Eric Cantor has been here before. In 2013, the House Republican, who had become the party’s de facto “chief political strategist,” was at a Virginia resort with his colleagues, working to shift the GOP away from its stereotype as a party focused on the rich and their corporate interests, according to a New Yorker profile of him at the time. The party needed to prove, amid growing populist currents, that it wanted to improve the lives of everyday people — and Cantor, then the majority leader, was seen as the strategist to make it happen. Continue to STAT+…

WASHINGTON — Eric Cantor has been here before.

In 2013, the House Republican, who had become the party’s de facto “chief political strategist,” was at a Virginia resort with his colleagues, working to shift the GOP away from its stereotype as a party focused on the rich and their corporate interests, according to a New Yorker profile of him at the time.

The party needed to prove, amid growing populist currents, that it wanted to improve the lives of everyday people — and Cantor, then the majority leader, was seen as the strategist to make it happen.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…