WaPo: “President Biden’s slumping approval ratings and gridlock on Capitol Hill have raised the risk that Democrats could lose the Virginia governor’s race, according to party insiders who fear a defeat could spark broader legislative and electoral problems in the coming year.
In a sign of the rising anxieties, the party’s nominee in Virginia, former governor Terry McAuliffe, is imploring Democrats in Washington to resolve their disputes and enact a sweeping infrastructure plan that has passed the Senate but faces hurdles in the House. He warned Wednesday that voters he has spoken to are “desperate out here for road and bridge money” and wondering where it is.
“Democrats have got to quit talking, and they’ve got to get something done,” McAuliffe said in a telephone interview. “You got elected to get things done. We have the House, Senate and White House.”
During his final debate against Republican business executive Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday night, McAuliffe distanced himself from some of the decisions Biden and congressional Democrats have made in recent weeks, as he sought to appeal to moderate voters. He urged Democrats to pare down an ambitious expansion of the social safety net and did not rebut Youngkin’s sharp criticism of the president’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Party officials say that McAuliffe, who holds a slim polling lead over Youngkin, remains the favorite to win at this point. But they fear that a loss in an increasingly blue state — where they have won every statewide contest since 2012 — is a growing possibility, and one that would erode confidence in the Biden presidency, forestall the remainder of the president’s legislative agenda and make it harder to recruit candidates for the midterm elections.”