Defeat of Democrats in Virginia, a major electoral setback for Biden

A year of elections mid-term, the Republican victory in the state gubernatorial broadcasts a shock wave in the presidential camp, returned to its divisions.

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In the electoral vocabulary, Democrats have a choice. Disillusionment, defeat, slap? Each term defends the view results in Virginia Tuesday, November 2, where the governorship is played. In this state near Washington, the federal capital, where Biden had won ten points in the 2020 presidential election, Republican Glenn Youngkin beat Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the former governor. The new millionaire came defeated a veteran (50.9%? Against 48.4% after 98% of votes counted) by imposing its themes in a civilized language, while remaining in the cultural war initiated by the conservative right .

This election was a crucial test for both parties, a year before the elections midterm. Republican Earth for nearly half a century, Virginia has swung in the Democratic camp starting in 2008. But voters have also grown accustomed to punish the party in power in Washington by choosing a governor of the opposite camp, as in 2009, a year after the election of Barack Obama. The polls predicted a close vote. The clear success of Glenn Youngkin broadcasts a shock wave in the Democratic Party, returned to its divisions. It also reopens the debate, the Republican side, the interest to bet exclusively on Donald Trump to take over both chambers in Congress and the White House in 2024.

Three observations are necessary: ​​the lack of attractiveness of the Democratic candidate, former apparatchik of the party associated with the Clinton era; the flair of the winner, who has kept his distance from Donald Trump; and finally, the demobilization of part of the electorate that voted Biden in 2020, disappointed by the poor results of the administration. Glenn Youngkin has managed to create a real dynamic, reducing the gap dramatically with Democrats in the outskirts of large cities – such as around Richmond – while increasing the considerable margin of the Grand Old Party in rural counties. The Republican banked on a blue demobilization, his calculation proved right. The foil effect Trump having disappeared, women voters and minorities were not as heavily lined up behind the Democrat in 2020 for president.

Crumbling of the president’s popularity

Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin have multiplied in the last straight line: town and country, meetings and interviews, barbecues and snacks, stadiums and theaters. But behind this twinning form and carnivorous smiles crossed paths loomed. The Democratic candidate has not managed to create acceptance. He was content to wave his record as governor between 2014 and 2018. But the past is not embellished a program, while a powerful disappointment settled in the Democratic ranks, more than eight months after the entry Joe Biden at the White House. The high inflation, the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the images of thousands of Haitian migrants in the Mexican border: all this explains the erosion of the president’s popularity in the polls, supported by only 44% of Americans. At the heart of the night, when Glenn Youngkin, euphoric, improvised a few dance on stage, enjoying his victory, Biden descended the steps of his plane after his European tour. Hard return home affairs.

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/Media reports.