Dave Brat celebrated his stunning victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) for the Republican nomination on Tuesday night in a phone interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.

The tea party-backed candidate attributed his victory to God and to grassroots efforts, calling the win a "miracle."

"If you go door to door knocking, the American people know the country is headed in the wrong direction," Brat said. "I attribute [the win] to God... God acted through the people on my behalf."

Cantor was expected to defeat Brat by a wide margin, outraising the college professor $5.4 million to $200,000. But Brat unseated the House majority leader with 56 percent of the vote.

"The good news is dollars don't vote, people do," Brat told Hannity. "I think the people are just ready for some major changes in this country."

Brat shied away from explicitly identifying as a tea party candidate, saying he ran on Republican principles.

"I'm not holding anyone's feet to the fire but it wasn't a contest between the tea party and the Republicans and all this," he said. "Although I have tremendous tea party support and just wonderful people in the tea party and grassroots helping me out, and they're clearly responsible for the win... I ran on the Republican principles."