McAllister refuses Cantor's request to resign immediately

WASHINGTON — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has told Louisiana Rep. Vance McAllister he should resign in the wake of a video showing him kissing a married female aide, but the embattled Republican husband and father says he won’t give up his seat.

“I’m not going to run away. And I believe that I’m not going to leave my district voiceless again for the second time,” McAllister said Tuesday after meeting with Cantor, R-Va. A Cantor spokesman said the majority leader told McAllister he should step down.

McAllister had already said he would not run for re-election and apologized for conduct he called a “personal failure.”

Cantor spokesman Rory Cooper said the majority leader believes that Republicans should hold themselves to a high moral standard and that McAllister’s conduct didn’t meet that standard.

Cantor’s comments were first reported by Politico.

McAllister was elected to Congress last year after Rodney Alexander, R-La., resigned to join Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s cabinet. Alexander said Monday he will not seek election to Congress.

ASSOCIATED PRESS