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Top Cantor Aide Steve Stombres Announces Capitol Hill Departure

With Cantor stepping down as majority leader next month, Stombres is leaving Capitol Hill. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
With Cantor stepping down as majority leader next month, Stombres is leaving Capitol Hill. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

As House Republicans adjust to the coming transition among their leadership ranks, one longtime aide for outgoing Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he plans to leave Capitol Hill.  

Steven Stombres, chief of staff in the leadership office, is expected to remain on Cantor’s staff until the end of July when Cantor will resign his leadership spot. Stombres, a member of Roll Call’s Fabulous 50 leading staffers , could be a highly sought-after candidate for a private-sector lobbying or think tank gig, head hunters and K Street sources said.  

Cantor, of course, lost his primary this week to upstart candidate Dave Brat in a contest that has rocked Washington from the capitol to K Street.  

Stombres’ top priority now though is helping his colleagues find jobs. “We’re not going to rest until everybody on this team has found a good place to land,” Stombres said.  

Cantor, he added, “has always attracted the best talent on the Hill.” Stombres said people on the Cantor leadership team may pursue opportunities working for other members or in the private sector.  

“The good news for them is that Leader Cantor was, from a private sector perspective, was viewed positively,” said K Street recruiter Nels Olson, who runs Korn/Ferry’s Washington office. “Those individuals will have an opportunity to make a transition.”  

Stombres said that he has not yet determined his next chapter and whether it will involve lobbying or advocacy but that he plans to find “a new professional endeavor.” Stombres is a three-term member of the Fairfax City Council, but earlier this year he announced he would not run for re-election to that post this fall.  

Stombres has been on the Hill for 20 years and with Cantor since 2001.

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