Biden returns to sobering Virginia upset, Democrat battle in Congress
By: Steve Holland and Chris Kahn (MSN)
Gotta be a bummer. Bungled Glasgow and comes home to this.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Steve Holland and Chris Kahn
© Reuters/KEVIN LAMARQUE COP26 in Glasgow
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden returned to the United States early on Wednesday to a sobering defeat for Democrats in Virginia's gubernatorial election and increased pressure to get his social and climate spending agenda through Congress.
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In Virginia's closely watched election for governor on Tuesday, Republican newcomer Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a state Biden won by 10 points in the presidential election a year ago.
The loss raised red flags for Democrats over midterm elections in November 2022 that could see them lose control of Congress, making it tough for Biden to advance his agenda in the second half of his presidency.
Republicans have not won a statewide race in Virginia since 2009. That win foreshadowed congressional election results the following year, in which Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives when Biden was vice president.
Republicans waged a cultural war https://www.reuters.com/world/us/virginia-governors-race-could-show-way-republican-congressional-campaigns-2021-11-01 against "critical race theory," a concept taught in mostly in law schools and universities that maintains racism is ingrained in U.S. law and institutions and that legacies of slavery and segregation have created an uneven playing field for Black Americans.
Democrats, who sought to link Youngkin to former President Donald Trump, now believe it is critical that Biden seal the deal on his spending package, to garner support for their party, which controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Biden must bring feuding Democratic progressives and moderates together on the $1.75 trillion social safety-net spending plan and a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
The president spent his nearly week-long overseas trip trying to reassure world leaders in Italy and Scotland that the United States was still a reliable partner after the acrimonious style of his Republican predecessor Trump.
Biden left the country last week after announcing a framework deal on legislation, signaling an end to months of infighting. But on Monday, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who has been at odds with most of his party during the negotiations, said he could not promise a yes vote.
Video: Sen. Manchin denounces Biden spending bill (Reuters)
"I believe that Joe will be there," Biden told a news conference before he left the Glasgow climate conference on Tuesday. "I think we'll get this done."
'CATASTROPHIC' INACTION
Democrats are looking uneasily at Biden's declining approval numbers, which could hurt midterm candidates and may have affected the Virginia race. Reuters-Ipsos' latest polling https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-BIDEN/POLL/nmopagnqapa shows 44% of Americans approve of Biden, down from nearly 60% early in his presidency.
"It would be catastrophic for us not to start passing some legislation immediately," said Democratic strategist Bud Jackson.
"I'm confident that if we can get this stuff passed, the economy starts to turn around and the supply chains improve, there are opportunities for Biden's poll numbers to improve. But they're not going to recover until we get this passed," he said.
Manchin's concerns have confounded progressives who frequently point out how popular elements of the social spending plans are with voters, as is the overall plan.
A new Reuters-Ipsos poll https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-BIDEN/akpezadwqvr, conducted Friday to Monday, found that 51% said the Democratic-led plan would affect them personally in a positive way, while 26% said it would have a negative impact.
Overall, 56% said they supported the plan as they understood it, while 29% opposed it. Some proposed elements of the plan are even more popular https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-BIDEN/movanjxaapa, including expanding the Medicare healthcare program for seniors and offering universal prekindergarten.
Democrats inched closer to a deal on Tuesday, agreeing to measures they say will lower prescription drug prices, a top wish for many voters.
Do you support/oppose... https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-BIDEN/jnvwewqngvw/chart.png
While abroad, Biden succeeded, along with the European Union, in getting more countries to join a pledge to cut methane emissions. But a promise that the United States would cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 compared with 2005 levels was undermined by his Democratic Party's inability to pass climate-related legislation at home.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the Virginia results flag trouble ahead.
"People want COVID solved, supply chains solved, inflation solved, other economic problems solved," he said. "They haven't seen what they expected to see, which was a very competent president putting a check mark next to each problem as he solved it. That's what people were expecting after Trump."
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Welcome home Brandon..................
Sometimes, ya just gotta let go.
Yes, Santa Claus, there is a Virginia.
They can't get his agenda through WITH a Democrat controlled Congress. If they lose control in 2022, the agenda is dead in the water reinforcing the idea that Biden is the failure many us knew he was for the past 50 years.
With the results of the Virginia race now in the books, and the simple fact that the New Jersey race is still too close to call (despite being a solid blue state), how many moderate Democrats are this morning re-evaluating their stance on politics? They, like all politicians, want to be re-elected and how does this election change their stance on how they vote in the House and Senate over the next 10 months? It's gonna be interesting to watch how it moves forward.
If Twitter (which is the far left’s echo chamber) is any hint, they will double down on calling everyone who opposes them racists and claim they didn’t win because they weren’t radical enough.
Guess I'm an old fart despite my youth.. I don't use Twitter, Instagram or any of those. I use Facebook only to get updates and pictures of the grandchildren as their parents are rather tied in to social media. But I spend all day sitting in front of a laptop for work and the last thing I want to do during my time is look at another computer screen.
This was definitely a far left source for the article.
I am sure that is all he did./S
None of our allies had any reservations or questions for Biden after his completely botched Afghanistan withdrawal. If he can abandon US citizens to the Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS/ISIL, and ISIS K; then he can abandon anyone at any time.
Not one of the Democrat proposals will decrease the crisis at the southern border or illegal immigration. It will not lower inflation- in fact pumping more money into the economy will cause it to explode. Not one thing in their plan will help the increasing costs or gas and oil. Not one of them will increase the capacity at the ports; make the trains run faster and ground on time; or increase the number of truck drivers.
What it will do is greatly increase the power of the federal government especially through the IRS and their ability to spy on every transaction we make.
It's funny watching how the mass media is covering this. In 2018 and 2020 the mass media was plastered with front pages with oodles of fancy graphics of how and why Dems won and Reps lost. Now that the shoe is on the other foot the wins barely get an actual headline in most news outlets but rather just more hatred and TDS.
Pretty sad but at the same time very hilarious!
Republicans are crowing now, just as Democrats did in November, same story, different day. Voters are fickle, anyone basing future elections, policies, trends on what happened hasn't learned the lesson, that is true for anyone of any political affiliation.