Youngkin’s victory is the first statewide for Republican Party in Virginia in 12 years
Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia’s gubernatorial election Tuesday night dealt another blow to President Biden and Democrats, as the political newcomer flipped a typically blue state red in a signal of what could be to come in the 2022 midterms.
Youngkin’s victory is the first statewide for the Republican Party in Virginia in 12 years – in what some saw as a referendum on Biden’s presidency and his legislative agenda pending in Congress.
“The Youngkin win in Virginia sends a signal to Democrats: Americans want to get back to work and want their kids to succeed and don’t want policies that are aimed to pit people against each other,” a senior House GOP aide told Fox News. “If I were a moderate Democrat, I’d take tonight as a clear sign that a vote for trillions of dollars of socialist spending while inflation is already hurting Americans’ pocketbooks is a vote in the wrong direction.”
President Biden attends the Action on Forests and Land Use session at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California also said voters in Virginia “demanded a different direction” for their state.
“The White House should take note that this is only the beginning,” Issa said.
Even David Axelrod, an adviser to former President Obama, questioned whether returns in Virginia’s gubernatorial election were forcing Democrats to rethink their votes on Biden’s multitrillion-dollar spending plan
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrives to meet with the Democratic Caucus at the Capitol in Washington, early Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Biden’s Build Back Better economic agenda is pending in the House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to reach an agreement on that spending package.
His social spending package, once valued at $3.5 trillion, is now down to a leaner $1.75 trillion after progressives and moderates agreed to cut programs, including universal community college and paid family leave. That bill only requires a simple majority to pass in the Senate because it would be done through a process known as budget reconciliation, but moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have said they still will not support it.
Prior to polls closing Tuesday, the president predicted Democratic wins in Virginia and New Jersey and rejected the premise that his performance had any impact on the gubernatorial race.
