If former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's surname is used to describe a stunning upset of an important incumbent, Paul Nehlen's last name now means the opposite.

In an overhyped primary fight against House Speaker Paul Ryan, Nehlen came up nearly 70 points short. While there were some superficial similarities between his uphill battle against Ryan and the contest the ended in Cantor's defeat by Dave Brat, the differences were clearer.

While anger over national issues, including immigration, was a factor in Cantor's surprise loss, the perception that the incumbent neglected his district as he climbed the leadership ladder was key to Brat's win.

Even Ryan's critics acknowledged he spent time at home. In fact, he originally cited his desire to be in the district with his family as an argument against running for speaker. By contrast, Nehlen was relatively new to Wisconsin and was largely backed by conservative immigration hawks living outside the state.

Yes, there were some larger trends fueling Nehlen's campaign, which is why Ryan made slight adjustments to his rhetoric on trade. But these trends weren't most powerful in the speaker's district. Donald Trump was never especially popular there and lost the Wisconsin primary to Ted Cruz.

It could yet be the case that conservative primary voters' priorities are changing or that nationalism versus globalism will become more important than the conservative RINO-hunting of past Republican primaries. A race against a sitting House speaker by a challenger with thin local roots promoted by non-Wisconsin pundits pushing a national political narrative was never the best place to test this theory.

Ryan's landslide win is nevertheless at least a short-term setback for the forces of Trumpism within the GOP. To really change the party, Republicans like Nehlen will need to win their primaries. That's especially true if Trump loses in November.

A party can be transformed even by a general election loser. Barry Goldwater and George McGovern were two of the biggest landslide losers in modern history yet the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, today look much more like them than their intraparty opponents. But it requires people involved in the unsuccessful presidential campaign eventually being part of winning ones.

There will also be questions about how much of Trump's appeal was due to his celebrity status and business success as opposed to his positions on immigration and trade. That will go a long way toward establishing how replicable Trump's success with Republican voters is. Nevertheless, even winning issues need the right candidates and the right local political conditions.

Nationalist, populist conservatives should know better than anyone else the importance of homegrown candidates.