US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Democrats' losses in Tuesday's elections highlight the need for the party to "deliver for the American people," but he dismissed the idea that the off-year election results were a referendum on his presidency.
Biden said it didn't matter that he couldn't get a $1 trillion infrastructure plan and a $1.75 trillion package of social and climate measures passed before the election.
In a state that Biden carried by ten percentage points a year earlier, Democrat Terry McAuliffe fell to first-time Republican contender Glenn Youngkin in the governor's race in Virginia.
Biden claims Virginia race wasn't a blowback against him
Biden made the remarks to reporters after speaking about a "great day" in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, when children aged five to eleven were eligible to get the preventive vaccination. In a state that Biden carried by ten percentage points a year earlier, Democrat Terry McAuliffe fell to first-time Republican contender Glenn Youngkin in the governor's race in Virginia, Global News reported.
Biden made the remarks to reporters after speaking about a "great day" in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, when children aged five to eleven were eligible to get the preventive vaccination.
It was welcome news for Biden, who arrived in Washington from Europe early Wednesday to learn that McAuliffe had been narrowly beaten by Youngkin, a first-time candidate, and former executive with the private equity company Carlyle Group. And in New Jersey, which Biden won by 16 percentage points, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy was caught in an unexpectedly close reelection race.
In recent years while Virginia has shifted to the Democratic Party, the current president's party has lost the governor's race in 11 of the last 12 elections there, according to White House officials.
Before departing Glasgow on Tuesday, Biden said that "the off year is always unexpected" and that he had seen no indication that whether "my agenda passes or not will have any significant influence on winning or losing" the two governorship races, as per The Star.
Biden's poll numbers have dropped in recent weeks, which he attributes to coronavirus weariness among Americans. At the same time, growing costs and supply difficulties affect American consumers and politics.
The president diagnoses election losses in Virginia
But, if Democrats join together on his program, those stumbling blocks might be in the rearview mirror far before the midterm elections a year from now, according to the president.
Per Daily Mail, President Joe Biden blamed Democrat Terry McAuliffe's devastating defeat in the Virginia governor's election on Donald Trump voters, conservative folk, and Americans concerned over COVID-19 and gasoline costs, according to Biden.
He said that his multi-trillion spending proposal should have been authorized before Tuesday's election. Still, he doubted that it would have persuaded Trump followers to vote for Republican Glenn Youngkin.
While the Democrats fought about what went wrong - with progressives suggesting the party should go further left - and faced a gloomy position going up to the 2022 midterm elections, Biden outlined his reasons for the defeat.
When he enumerated the reasons for the poor outcome, including COVID-19, doubts about going back to school, and growing prices, the president left out one of the fundamental problems that spurred Youngkin's victory - parental control over education.
Even while Youngkin predicted a spike in support from white women, the suburbs, and Latinos in 2020, he blamed Trump supporters and conservatives. By bringing up Trump, Biden was at least partially agreeing with his predecessor, who instantly claimed credit for Youngkin's victory, claiming MAGA forces were responsible - in a race when Youngkin took some noticeable moves to separate himself from the former president.
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