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Withbig Republican wins in Virginiaand the closer-than-expected re-election of New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, members of both parties are taking stock of Tuesday’s election results as they look ahead to next year’s midterms and beyond.
That includes PresidentJoe Biden.
“I do know that people want us to get things done,” Biden, 78, told reporters on Wednesday. “And that’s why I’m continuing to push very hard for the Democratic Party to move along and pass my infrastructure bill and my Build Back Better bill.”
Just before his trip, Biden presented a new framework for his$1.85-trillion plan, calling it “historic investments in our nation, and in our people.”
“People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things — from COVID, to school, to jobs, to a whole range of things, and the cost of a gallon of gasoline,” Biden continued in his remarks on Wednesday.
He argued that “if I’m able to sign into law my Build Back Better initiative, I’m in a position where you’re going to see a lot of those things ameliorated quickly and swiftly. And so that has to be done.”
Though Biden was asked about the “dismal results” in Virginia for the Democratic Party — where education was a major campaign issue — the president first spoke about the “sacred” right to vote and the “obligation to accept the legitimacy of these elections” before offering a somewhat different take on McAuliffe’s defeat.
“I was talking to Terry to congratulate him today. He got 600,000 more votes than any Democrat ever has gotten,” Biden said, adding that it’s more than any Democrat has ever received in a Virginia governor’s race.
Plus, he continued, “No governor in Virginia has ever won when … he or she is the same party as the sitting president.”
Asked if the outcome would have been different had his spending legislation passed before the vote, Biden said, “maybe.”
“It should have passed before Election Day,” he said. “But I’m not sure that I would be able to have changed the number of very conservative folks who turned out in the red districts who were Trump voters. But maybe.”
source: people.com
