President Biden is once again struggling to unite his party as senior Democrats turn on each other after disastrous state election results this week.
The ruling party suffered a stinging defeat in the Virginia state governor’s race and scraped by with a razor-thin victory in New Jersey, bringing further recriminations that threaten to further undermine the White House. Biden, 78, is determined to pass his $2.75 trillion spending plan, but rifts within the party continue to hamper his efforts to reclaim the initiative after the backlash from voters.
Democratic candidates were wiped out in Virginia — a state Biden won by ten points in the 2020 presidential election — reflecting widespread frustration among voters on the failure to deliver on promises made last year. In New Jersey, Phil Murphy, 64, clung on to his role as governor by a few thousand votes as the Republicans very nearly overhauled a huge deficit in a state where Biden defeated Donald Trump by 16 points a year ago.
The results have triggered panic within the party as it looks ahead to the midterm elections across the US next year. Without a dramatic reversal in its fortunes and strategy it could lose control of both houses of Congress, leaving the administration paralysed and Biden a lame duck president heading into the 2024 election.
Party leaders were pushing for swift votes yesterday to pass the two bills that have been stalled in Congress for weeks by feuding between rival wings. Nancy Pelosi, 81, the Speaker, was calling for a Senate vote as early as last night on a $1.75 trillion spending package on social care and climate change, with a second vote in the House today on a $1 trillion plan to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure.
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“I was really very unhappy about not passing the bills last week,” she said at her weekly press conference yesterday, adding that she was “heartbroken” for the defeated Democratic candidate in Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, 64.
Biden voiced his frustration, saying his Build Back Better plan “should have passed before election day” and urging Democrats to break the deadlock.
Centrist senators are still blocking the social care and climate bill over concerns at the cost of Build Back Better. Joe Manchin, 74, in West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema, 45, in Arizona have scaled the bill down from its original $3 trillion after weeks of talks, to the fury of their party colleagues. Biden needs both their votes for the bill to clear the Senate, which is deadlocked at 50-50.
Manchin has given no indication that he is ready to give in. “I’ve been saying this for many, many months: people have concerns. We’re talking about revamping the whole entire tax code. That’s mammoth. I think we need to take our time and do it right,” he said.
His intransigence has infuriated left-wing Democrats in the House, who have refused to vote on the infrastructure package unless both bills pass together, to prevent the two senators demanding further cuts.
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That simmering mistrust has also clouded the party’s response to its catastrophic performance in this week’s elections. James Carville, a party strategist, blamed the “stupid wokeness” of the left for the dismal performances recorded across the board. They had, he added, undermined the party by endorsing liberal talking points such as the Defund the Police drive, and a move in San Francisco to remove the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from public schools.
“Some of these people need to go to a woke detox centre or something,” he said. “They’re expressing a language that people just don’t use, and there’s backlash and a frustration at that.”
The shifting tactics deployed by the resurgent Republicans this week are certain to be imitated at next year’s midterms. Although Trump still overshadows the Republican Party, the campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey kept the former president at a distance.
In Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, 54, focused instead on stirring culture war topics such as the teaching of race and transgender rights in schools through the right-wing press; in effect weaponising sensitive issues to exploit the frustrations of suburban parents, who felt abandoned by the government and by state schools during the pandemic.
Biden, asked how to counter this strategy, struggled to find an answer. “I think the answer is just to speak the truth. I’m convinced all the elements [in my agenda] are overwhelmingly popular. We have to explain them.”
Troubles on all sides
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Joe Biden demanded action after voters delivered body blows in Virginia and New Jersey, but the White House faces troubles on all sides as he tries to steady his presidency (Hugh Tomlinson writes).
Rogue Democrats
Chief among Biden’s troubles is the struggle to unite Democratics around his $2.75 trillion spending plan, the linchpin of his domestic agenda and presidency. Despite panic that the party could lose control of both houses in Congress, factions are blocking two key bills that make up Biden’s spending plan. The centrist senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have held out for weeks against a $1.75 trillion proposal to bolster social care, education and fight climate change, watering down a programme once set to cost $3 trillion. Biden needs their votes for the bill to pass the Senate, which is tied 50-50. Furious at their colleagues, left-wing Democrats have retaliated by refusing to pass a parallel $1 trillion bill to rebuild America’s infrastructure, insisting the two bills must pass together to prevent Manchin and Sinema demanding more cuts.
Resurgent Republicans
The Republican victor for governor in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, overturned a huge deficit to win with relative ease in a state Biden carried by ten points last year. In New Jersey, where Biden beat President Trump by 16 points, the Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli came within a hair’s breadth of victory. The campaigns set a template that is certain to be copied by other Republicans in the midterms next year. Youngkin focused on education, marrying “culture war” issues such as the teaching of race and transgender rights in schools to voter exhaustion with the pandemic and frustration at Biden’s failure to deliver on last year’s promises.
Spectre of Trump
Tuesday’s elections may have shown Republicans how to win without Trump, but he looms over US politics as he toys with a run for re-election in 2024.
Covid-19 and other troubles
Early progress in turning around the response to Covid-19 has been undone by the Delta variant and vaccine scepticism whipped up by right-wing opponents. The pandemic still weighs heavily on the public mood and a sluggish economy, while Biden has been forced to impose unpopular vaccine mandates on federal workers and corporations, rules which affect about 100 million Americans.
