Congressional Democrats are insisting that the Republican candidate’s victory in Virginia’s gubernatorial election will not change their calculus on passing the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and $1.75 trillion spending package.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was asked about Terry McAuliffe’s (D) defeat in Virginia. She said, “The people have spoken. We respect the results.”
“And I’m very sad. Terry McAuliffe was a great leader, he was a great governor of the state,” she added.
When asked if his loss would affect their strategy, Pelosi simply responded, “No, no.”
Pelosi says Dem loss in Virginia’s gubernatorial race won’t change their agenda in Congress: “No, no.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 3, 2021
“The people have spoken. We respect the results,” she said, per @MZanona. “And I’m very sad. Terry McAuliffe was a great leader, he was a great governor of the state."
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, “There ought to be a clear message to my party and all those who support it to get the job done.”
And Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) suggested that “failure to deliver” on passing the two pieces of legislation was in part responsible for Democratic losses on Tuesday. He added, “Congress has to deliver. Window is closing. We have no more time.”
Dick Durbin told us about last night: “There ought to be a clear message to my party and all those who support it to get the job done.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 3, 2021
Sen. Richard Blumenthal when I asked what went wrong.
“Failure to deliver. Congress has to deliver. Window is closing. We have no more time.”
Their comments come after Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated McAuliffe in a state President Joe Biden won by 10 percentage points in the 2020 election. Additionally, as of Wednesday morning, the New Jersey gubernatorial election was too close to call — Biden also handily carried the state in the last election.
The election comes as Democrats are struggling to reach an agreement and pass the infrastructure and spending package, a major part of Biden’s domestic agenda.
Fox News’ Chris Wallace predicted last week that if McAuliffe lost, the pathway for the passage of the president’s agenda would get cloudier, as IJR reported.
“If [Virginia] goes for a Republican against a former popular governor, Terry McAuliffe…you’re going to see Democrats run for the hills and they’re going want to go as far away from Joe Biden and the Democratic agenda as they can,” Wallace said.