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Disappointing results in two poorly timed off-year elections shouldn’t really be any cause for panic among Democrats. It should simply jolt Democrats into even greater action behind President Biden’s agenda, which has already happened.
There are very good reasons why only two states hold major elections the year after presidential elections. The enormous voter turnout in presidential elections was even larger in Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump, leaving voters and activists exhausted.
The party losing the presidency usually has a political advantage two years later in midterm elections with their voters desperate to regain power. That came early this year with Trump convincing many Republicans of one more lie—Republican and Democratic election officials had stolen a landslide re-election victory from him in a massive, nationwide, totally imaginary conspiracy.
But Trump’s feverish delusions don’t explain former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe losing the governor’s race in Virginia, which rejected Trump and Republicans in the last two presidential elections or New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy barely winning re-election in a Democratic state against a little-known Republican challenger.
Terrible Timing
It’s foolish not to recognize that among all the other reasons timing was terrible for those two elections they took place while weeks of negotiations were delaying passage of the two most important bills of Biden’s presidency.
Congressional Democrats recognized it immediately and passed Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill creating jobs in every state, rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges along with other badly needed public projects. That should soon be followed by Biden’s even larger package of popular job and family supporting programs to rebuild a better economy serving all Americans.
Biden had to pack much of his presidential agenda into two enormous bills because Republicans are determined to prevent Biden from passing many bills. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the Senate in August with 19 Republicans including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell supporting it. But that could be the last major legislation from Biden Senate Republicans ever support. They wouldn’t want America’s economy to fully recover under Biden.
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Against Infrastructure?
House Republicans are even more hostile to helping Biden create a booming economy again. Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged his members to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Only 13 House Republicans out of 214 supported it even though it creates jobs for their own constituents rebuilding their communities. Those 13 were viciously attacked by their Republican colleagues as socialist traitors. Loony Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene accused them of voting for “Joe Biden’s Communist takeover of America,” apparently for perpetuating President Dwight Eisenhower’s Marxist creation of an interstate highway system.
Because Virginia and New Jersey were the only major elections taking place, political reporters always over analyze what they mean for the future. Probably not much. And a widespread media conclusion about Virginia’s rising Republican star Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin bore little resemblance to what actually happened on the ground.
Multimillionaire Youngkin didn’t win back the suburbs for Republicans by pretending to be a moderate, hoops-shooting dad in a fleece vest who cares about parental involvement in education. Actually, Democrats won the suburbs although their margin decreased by several points in the way-off-year election.
Youngkin won by running two campaigns—the mild-mannered, upbeat one for independents and the darker, race-baiting one turning out an even higher percentage of voters than Trump did in the reddest small towns and rural areas of southern Virginia. His loudest applause lines were about banning Virginia public schools from teaching critical race theory (which isn’t taught below college level anywhere in America) and banning an unidentified shocking book from schools that actually was the brilliant “Beloved” by Nobel Prize winning black writer Toni Morrison describing the horrors of slavery.
Youngkin never really distanced himself from Trump either. He simply claimed a conflict to avoid attending his campaign’s most outrageous pro-Trump rally under an enormous “Youngkin for Governor” banner. It opened with a pledge to a flag that organizers claimed flew over the Jan. 6 insurrection. That was followed by Trump political advisor Steve Bannon describing how Biden stole the election and a surprise call-in from Trump agreeing 2020 was the most corrupt election anywhere in the world. Youngkin campaigned in the state’s Trumpiest counties with State Sen. Amanda Chase who was stripped of committee assignments by colleagues after calling the violent mob rioting at the Capitol “patriots.”
The problem with Democrats being forced to pass huge omnibus packages of legislation is that very few Americans realize that all the programs will directly benefit them and their families. Democrats have to clearly communicate that in detail throughout the coming year.
When Americans begin feeling the benefits of a rapidly growing, more equitable economy, they won’t care how long Biden had to fight for the largest possible recovery package. They’ll just appreciate once again having a president who carries out the duties of the office to improve life in America for everyone.
