Then-candidate David Brat addresses voters at the Henrico County Republican Party breakfast meeting April 26 in Glen Allen, Va. Brat went on to a surprise defeat of incumbent House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the June 10 primary. (Jay Paul/Getty Images)

In the three months since Virginia Republican David Brat stunned the political world and defeated then-House majority leader Eric Cantor, he has figured out quickly that it’s not easy being the front-runner and a darling of the tea party all at once.

The balance between cultivating his national profile and impressing local Rotary clubs is especially important given Cantor’s reputation for being out of touch, which contributed to his ouster.

Brat’s critics say he lost his outsider credibility as soon as he hired a high-powered Republican consultant. They have labeled him a hypocrite for shying away from debates not long after dinging Cantor for the same behavior.

But in a conservative district stretching from suburban Richmond north to the rural Shenandoah Valley, Brat is favored to win the seat and join Congress in an enviable spot: a freshman with a David-and-Goliath narrative and national name recognition.

On Friday evening, Brat reveled in his rising stature at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Northwest Washington, appearing at a private reception for a political committee associated with the Family Research Council, an influential conservative Christian group.

Then-candidate David Brat attends a campaign event at the Golden Corral with members of Heaven's Saints motorcycle ministry April 26 in Glen Allen, Va. Brat went on to surprise defeat of incumbent House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the June 10 primary. (Jay Paul/Getty Images)

Brat was seen passing out business cards to GOP operatives and mingling alongside Republicans Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, both potential 2016 presidential candidates.

Brat’s high-wattage tour continued on Saturday when he rallied with nationally syndicated radio host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a hard-line opponent of comprehensive immigration reform, at a campaign event in Hanover County, north of Richmond.

“I’m trying to stay down to earth,” Brat said in an interview Friday. “I know it’s a mistake if you get national attention to take your eyes off the district, and my focus is on the ground game. What I’m doing is meeting as many people as I can, people I’ve respected for years.”

Brat said that he has made several recent trips to Washington, and he cited the Heritage Foundation, a think tank, and FreedomWorks, a group that organizes activists, as two conservative groups he has connected with. He has also met with the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Rifle Association, his office said.

“Talking to the think tank folks and the political folks is exciting,” he said. “If I get to Congress, I want to use my economics background and go straight to [the] American people and tell them what the numbers are about the federal budget and entitlements.”

In the district, Brat has mostly kept a low profile, meeting with civic groups and businesses organizations receptive to the message that resonated during the primary: Reduce the debt and deficit, stop illegal immigration and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Spokesman Brian Gottstein said the groups that Brat meets with all request that their meetings are closed to reporters. He provided a list of more than two dozen events Brat has attended that were open to reporters, such as the Louisa Bluegrass Festival, a town hall in New Kent County and a tea party meeting in Goochland.

Baird Stokes, a campaign volunteer from Goochland, has seen other changes since the days when Brat dutifully attended Henrico GOP meetings with an eye on the treasury.

“David was pretty much the quiet guy over in the corner. If you wanted to know what the numbers were, he had the numbers, but he wasn’t out front. So it’s interesting to see him as the rock star now,” Stokes said.

Brat also impressed earlier this month at an evening meet-and-greet for 65 people hosted by Mike and Margaret Mickel at their Henrico home.

“He gave a very inspiring speech,” Mike Mickel said, calling Brat “a principled person” who won’t make a career out of politics.

Yet Brat, who has promised to serve a maximum of 12 years in Congress, has taken heat from his opponents Democrat Jack Trammell and Libertarian James Carr, who call it ironic that Brat has turned down several chances to debate them.

“What a difference a primary makes,” Trammell said in a phone interview Friday. “A few short months ago, Brat was the outsider, and he was demanding debates. Now he’s the front-runner and he’s refusing formal debate.”

In addition to public debates scheduled for October in Goochland and at Randolph-Macon College — where Brat and Trammell are professors — Brat appeared Friday morning at a closed-press forum sponsored by the Richmond chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.

“Dave is doing and has pledged to do three debates or forums in the district,” Gottstein said. “That’s plenty of opportunity for these guys to debate.”

According to an audio clip of last week’s event provided by someone who was there, Brat spoke of his biography and the millions Cantor spent in the primary, but mostly stuck to a message that often plays well with his conservative base.

“The press is the toughest opponent these days, the national press particularly just wants to do ‘gotcha’ to both sides, they just go constantly after you on these little things. They never ask you about the big issues,” he said. “They always want to define you and kind of pigeon-hole you.”

Gottstein said Brat is focused on issues important to 7th District voters and for that reason has done fewer interviews with national outlets.

Brat stumbled in his first major interview the day after the primary, when NBC reporter Chuck Todd asked him to clarify his positions on several foreign policy issues. Soon after that, he parted ways with campaign manager Zachary Werrell and hired Tim Edson.

Edson was previously campaign manager for Allen West, the former one-term House member from Florida who turned his fleeting national prominence as a rhetorical bomb-thrower into books and deals with conservative media organizations.

There was also an early misstep with his next campaign manager, Amanda Chase, who was replaced after three weeks. Gottstein said Brat’s current lieutenants, Phil Rapp and Nancy Smith, were key volunteers throughout the primary.

“It’s like going from a shoestring budget to a small corporation,” Brat said of the transition from the primary to general election. “We’ve kept on a lot of talent and have roughly the same support. But you’ve got to make some changes and keep moving along.”

Brat, who has yet to air television or radio ads, amassed $600,000 through the end of June and has been steadily raising money since then. The National Republican Congressional Committee gave him $5,000, as did NRCC Chairman Greg Walden (Ore.) from his campaign account.

Brat has also used his newfound political capital to make a mark in the House he has yet to join, refusing coyly on Friday to say whether he would endorse House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) for another term in that position and speaking fondly of the “liberty caucus,” a group of libertarian-leaning Republicans who have often blocked GOP initiatives.

Brat’s early moves suggest that he is looking to be more than a rank-and-file, head-down freshman if elected in November. House GOP leaders, perturbed at potentially having to deal with another outspoken tea party favorite with national ambitions, have taken notice.

Brat said to expect more conservative and GOP heavyweights to show up in central Virginia to stump for him in the closing days of the campaign. “Some major names, people you know,” Brat said with a chuckle. “Stay tuned for some fun announcements.”

But he insisted he’s trying to stay humble.

“I’m trying to keep it real, to keep it at the ground level,” Brat said. It’s not always easy, however, to do so. At GOP gatherings, he is often swarmed by well-wishers and even for autograph requests. Same goes for the local mall.

“I go into Wal-Mart to get my kids stuff and it’s always, ‘Hey, Dave!’ and all that. Folks come up to me and chat, ask me questions.”

Brat said he doesn’t mind the attention.