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Democrat infighting over spending bill contributed to decision to retire, Texas Dem says – Fox News

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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the 85-year-old Texas Democrat, who recently announced that she will not seek reelection, said in an interview that party infighting over President Bidens social spending bill contributed to her decision.

Johnson told CBS DFW on Tuesday that the decision was not easy and some leaders were asking that she reconsider. But she told the station that she is getting older, and also pointed to the fight over Bidens social spending bill.

"You begin to question the why when you get to a point where our party is not as together as youd like it to be, like youve experienced," she said. Her office did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.

CHAD PERGRAM: BIDEN'S SPENDING BILL IS A DRAMA IN 4 ACTS

Her decision not to run for reelection prompted representatives from both sides of the aisle to praise her service. Rep. Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., served with her on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

The Washington Post reported that he issued a statement that said there is no one hed "rather have as my counterpart across the aisle."

He called her a "true public servant" who cares deeply about supporting science in the U.S.

"Shes an old-school legislator who cares more about results than headlines, and I respect that deeply," he said.

House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson delivers remarks during an event honoring NASA's "Hidden Figures," African American women mathematicians who helped the United States' space program in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty)

Johnson is a political fixture in her hometown of Dallas, where early in her career she became the first Black woman to serve the city in the state Senate since Reconstruction.

Johnson on Wednesday endorsed Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Crockett to take her seat just days after announcing her intentions to retire.

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Crockett, a first-term state representative, made headlines in July as part of the group of Texas lawmakerswho fled to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to block a vote on the state Republicans elections integrity bill, which eventually passed and was signed into law in September.

Fox News' Jessica Chasmar and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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Democrat infighting over spending bill contributed to decision to retire, Texas Dem says - Fox News

Abigail Spanberger on Biden, FDR and what Democrats want – "The Takeout" – CBS News

After Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger told the New York Times that "nobody elected [President Biden] to be FDR," after Democrats lost the legislature and the governor's race in November, and some blamed Democratic lawmakers, the Virginia Democrat received an unexpected phone call while she was on the House floor voting.

"I go into the cloakroom, and they say, 'the president and the White House are trying to get a hold of you.' And I thought they were kidding. They were not kidding," Spanberger told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett in this week's episode of "The Takeout" podcast.

"I pick up the phone and this woman says, 'Representative Spanberger, are you available to speak with the president,'" she recalled. The next voice she heard was President Biden's.

"'Hello, Abigail, it's President Roosevelt.' And I wanted to crawl under the table," Spanberger recalled. "And I said, 'Hello, Mr. President,' and he starts laughing and says, 'Oh, I'm glad you have a good sense of humor, Abigail,' to which I could barely contain myself and said, I'm glad you have a good sense of humor, Mr. President."

On "The Takeout," Spanberger also expanded on her remark to the New YorkTimes, and reiterated her argument that voters who had supported Mr. Biden weren't looking for the next New Deal.

"I'm not saying that they weren't attracted to some of his policies, but the principal uniting factor between the Democrats who voted for him, the independents voted for him, the Republicans who voted for him is, 'Oh my goodness, like a pandemic, years of upheaval under the last administration, so much is happening. There's so much unease. We just need to stabilize, right?'" Spanberger said. "That bit of normalcy, that stopping of the chaos, I think, is, you know, when it comes down to it, a major motivator for so many people who voted for him."

Virginia GOP Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin carried Spanberger's congressional district by 11 points in November and prevailed in the race, though Mr. Biden carried Virginia in 2020. Spanberger says she sees the "nervous" atmosphere among Democrats as motivation for herself and for the other Democrats up for reelection in 2022.

"I think it's perfectly appropriate that everybody be really nervous towards 2022. I think you should be really nervous towards any single race. I think you should plan for it to be as hard of a race, you know, whether you're an incumbent here in Virginia, or in California, Texas, or anywhere else," Spanberger said. "The fact that there's a lot of attention, there's a lot of people worrying, I think that's probably very good if it gets people motivated and focused and serious about the election."

Spanberger, who was an officer in the CIA before she entered politics, also spoke about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer.

"I think it was a disaster. I think it was chaotic. I think it was really, really hard to watch, particularly for anyone who's ever spent time in Afghanistan or spent years of their lives focused on kind of the future and the possibility that existed in Afghanistan," Spanberger said. "But I think that you can say, yes, it was a bad reality in August, but it wasn't the decisions of just July and June that got us there or the kind of choices that we made in August. It's 20 years' worth of decision making and 20 years' worth of choices."

Highlights

Frame of mind for Democrats going into midterms: "I think it's perfectly appropriate that everybody be really nervous towards 2022. I think you should be really nervous towards any single race. I think you should plan for it to be as hard of a race, you know, whether you're an incumbent here in Virginia, or in California, Texas, or anywhere else. I think people should be planning for it to be the hardest race and you should run like you're five points behind, even if you don't think you are. So the fact that there's a lot of attention, there's a lot of people worrying, I think that's probably very good if it gets people motivated and focused and serious about the election."

"Nobody elected [Biden] to be FDR": "Listening to voters, listening to constituents in my district, you know, the primary sort of principal reason across the board- now, maybe somebody really likes this policy proposal, that policy proposal -- I'm not saying that they weren't attracted to some of his policies, but the principle uniting factor between the Democrats who voted for him. the independents voted for him, the Republicans who voted for him is, 'oh my goodness, like a pandemic, years of upheaval under the last administration, so much is happening. There's so much unease. We just need to stabilize, right?' And here's a man who has decades worth of working across the aisle, getting things done, accomplishing things, and we just need to not have to watch the news for a day.' And that bit of normalcy, that stopping of the chaos, I think, is, you know, when it comes down to it, a major motivator for so many people who voted for him."

Afghanistan withdrawal: "I think it was a disaster. I think it was chaotic. I think it was really, really hard to watch, particularly for anyone who's ever spent time in Afghanistan or spent years of their lives focused on kind of the future and the possibility that existed in Afghanistan. But I think that you can say, yes, it was a bad reality in August, but it wasn't the decisions of just July and June that got us there or the kind of choices that we made in August. It's 20 years' worth of decision making and 20 years' worth of choices."

Oil release from Strategic Petroleum Reserve: "Well, not only do I support, but I joined colleagues yesterday, calling on the president to do just this. You know, certainly it's important that we take very seriously the real impact on families and the impact of gas prices being increased as they are in some places, you know, record gas prices. You know, certainly there's a lot of contributing factors, pent up demand certainly gas prices fell to a pretty significant low during the early days of the pandemic. But I think this is the right thing to do, and I'm appreciative that the president has finally done it."

Executive producer: Arden Farhi

Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson

CBSN Production: Eric SoussaninShow email:TakeoutPodcast@cbsnews.comTwitter:@TakeoutPodcastInstagram:@TakeoutPodcastFacebook:Facebook.com/TakeoutPodcast

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Abigail Spanberger on Biden, FDR and what Democrats want - "The Takeout" - CBS News

Radio host grills Democrat seeking Herrera Beutler’s seat in ‘debate’ with Joe Kent – The Reflector

By Rick Bannan / rick@thereflector.com

A rare appearance by a Democratic candidate for federal office highlighted Fridays programming on the conservative The Lars Larson Show, as Brent Hennrich, challenger to U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, made an appearance during a debate with Herrera Beutlers closest challenger from her own party.

During an afternoon airing of the Portland-based show, Hennrich squared off against Republican Joe Kent, a favorite of Larsons to unseat the incumbent Herrera Beutler.

I think she ought to be replaced. I think shes turned into a RINO or worse, Larson said, using the acronym that stands for Republican In Name Only.

Although it was characterized as a debate, Larson did not give the chance for rebuttal.

Larson commented on the rarity of having someone who was left-leaning on his show. Hennrich came out of the gate thanking Kent, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran whose wife, who was also in the military, died in combat.

Kent acknowledged recent polling by Trafalgar Group that had him in the lead with Hennrich in second.

Im running against Jaime Herrera Beutler because she has betrayed our values, Kent said, noting her vote to impeach the then-president Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol building among other issues.

Hennrich said he didnt believe the country was headed toward socialism, noting social programs already in place, such as Medicare and Social Security.

Expanding on social programs is in no way leading us to a path of socialism, Hennrich said.

Kent, however, said the U.S. was on a very slippery slope right now toward socialism, communism and really just authoritarian control.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the far left got to jumpstart a lot of their most devious plans, Kent said, adding that Democrats were shutting down small businesses to shift resources to corporate entities.

Although Larson gave Hennrich props for making an appearance on the show, he did not give him any favors. Larson said spending packages under the Build Back Better name would cost roughly $5 trillion. He asked how Hennrich could justify its support.

Youre talking about the spending without the revenue portion, Hennrich said. Thats comparing apples to oranges.

We need to get America back on track and going forward again, and thats what the Build Back Better plan is for, Hennrich said.

Kent said the spending plan was utterly irresponsible, saying the debt incurred would be passed onto future generations. He said most of the money did not go to infrastructure, calling funding for rechargeable car stations a payday for the Chinese communist party, the people that crashed our party by sending us COVID.

Kent said the systemic issue he was seeing was a lack of American jobs to support the supply chain.

I think weve seen the government overstep their bounds consistently with these mask mandates. They cannot dictate what you put on your face, and they shouldnt be able to dictate access to public facilities where our taxpayer dollars go to, Kent said. He said theres been a lack of public trust among Washingtonians and their government.

Larson proceeded to grill Hennrich on questions about mask mandates. Hennrich said government officials were well within their rights to enforce the mandates.

I believe (those officials) have a duty to protect the overall population, Hennrich said, adding they were using the best data from health experts for their decisions.

Larson was clearly in favor of Kent.

I mean I do have a bias here, not just in the favor of Joe Kent, Larson said.

Kent was against any mandates from government officials, questioning whether they had the right to slap a mask on (his) face.

Larson focused in on Hennrichs stance regarding vaccine requirements, asking if the government had the authority to stick a needle in your arm, and another one, and another one, as boosters are required?

They are looking for the general wellbeing of the overall population, and they are doing everything they can, Hennrich said.

Outside of COVID-19-related questioning, Larson turned the conversation to energy policy. Kent said Bidens administration was completely reckless in its policy approach in that sphere, and Hennrich was decidedly in support of current energy efforts.

The candidates were also asked about their opinion on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, after the 17-year-old fatally shot two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and injured a third. Rittenhouse was acquitted of first-degree homicide.

Hennrich hedged the decision, pointing to the due process of law while saying personally he did not like the verdict. He acknowledged it was by a jury of peers.

Kent gave a quick answer, saying what I want to point out, is the right decision and self defense.

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Radio host grills Democrat seeking Herrera Beutler's seat in 'debate' with Joe Kent - The Reflector

Texas Democrats’ 2022 field shaping up to be very white – The Texas Tribune

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For decades, Texas Democrats have banked on the growth of voters of color, particularly Black and Latino voters, as the key to their eventual success in a state long dominated by Republicans.

But with less than a month left for candidates to file for statewide office in the 2022 elections, some in the party worry Democrats could see their appeal with those constituencies threatened by a Republican Party that is rapidly diversifying its own candidate pool.

The GOP slate for statewide office includes two high-profile Latinos: Land Commissioner George P. Bush and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman, who are both running for attorney general. It also includes two Black candidates who have previously held state or federal office: former Florida congressman Allen West and state Rep. James White, who are running for governor and agriculture commissioner, respectively.

By contrast, the Democrats most formidable candidates are white Beto ORourke, who is running for governor, and Mike Collier, Matthew Dowd and Michelle Beckley, who are running for lieutenant governor.

We need to look at that and need to do an introspection as to why theres a lack of diversity at the top of the ticket. We need to do better. Weve gotta cultivate our bench.

Lee Merritt, a Black civil rights attorney from McKinney, and Rochelle Garza, a Latina former ACLU attorney from Brownsville, have jumped into the Democratic primary for attorney general; and Jinny Suh, an Asian American Austin lawyer, is running for land commissioner. But none of those Democrats have the political experience or fundraising prowess of their Republican counterparts.

The issue has caused consternation among some Democrats, particularly as they see South Texas and border communities, with large majorities of Latino voters, become a battleground for Republicans. Democrats lost a special election in San Antonio to Republican John Lujan earlier this month. Two weeks later, Rio Grande City Rep. Ryan Guillen, whod served in the Texas House as a Democrat since 2003, switched his party affiliation to Republican. Both Lujan and Guillen are Latino.

We need to look at that and need to do an introspection as to why theres a lack of diversity at the top of the ticket, said Odus Evbagharu, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party. We need to do better. Weve gotta cultivate our bench.

Jamarr Brown, co-executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, downplayed the concerns, saying his party will have a competitive slate of candidates when the filing period closes in December. He pointed to Annise Parker, the openly gay former mayor of Houston, who is reportedly considering a run for land commissioner, as a candidate who can bring a different viewpoint to the race. Parker is also white.

Im not concerned as it relates to us having real diversity and us having candidates, he said. We will have diversity in gender, race and ethnicity. We will have diversity in industry and in experience.

Jeronimo Cortina, a political scientist at the University of Houston, said Republicans are making a play to be more competitive with voters of color as the states electorate grows more diverse. He pointed to Republicans opening up offices in heavily Latino areas like San Antonio.

The Republican Party in Texas sees the writing on the wall and that is that demographic change is here, he said. Latinos are going to be the biggest chunk of the electorate in the next couple of decades, so either [Republicans] get on board or theyre going to lose them.

A majority of the states top elected officials, who are all Republican, are white. But for years, statewide leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott and Bush have focused on expanding the Republican share of the Latino vote.

Latinos make up 39% of the states population, only slightly behind white Texans, who make up 40%, according to the U.S. Census. But while Latinos make up a majority of Democrats in the statehouse, a training ground for higher office, there are no major Latino candidates on the partys statewide slate. Garza has never been on a Texas ballot. Her only experience raising money as a candidate was collecting $200,000 for a congressional race she suspended.

Part of the challenge, Brown said, is that it is difficult to recruit candidates of color to run for office when they are more likely to face economic challenges than white candidates. ORourke, the best performing Democrat in Texas in years, comes from a prominent political family in El Paso, and his father-in-law is a real estate investor worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

People of color and women are working-class people in this state, Brown said. Asking people to take time away from their jobs and businesses and families and to campaign in a large state with 254 counties and having the resources to cover that ground is challenging.

Potential statewide candidates who are currently in office are unlikely to risk their hard-fought seats to launch an uphill battle for state office, particularly when Republican incumbents hold advantages of multiple millions of dollars from the start, Brown said. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Latina, is seen as a rising star in the party but has resisted a statewide run. And San Antonios Julin and Joaquin Castro are perennially named among potential candidates but have also turned down opportunities.

The fundraising challenges are present for candidates of color on the Republican side, too.

Its supposed to be tough, said White, a Black Republican running for agriculture commissioner against the GOP incumbent Sid Miller. You can talk about how tough it is but at some point you just gotta get after it.

Some on the Republican side, however, have found success tapping into the partys network of donors. Bush, who comes from a storied political family, has raised multiple millions, and Guzman raised $1 million in the first 10 days of her campaign.

You find a roadblock in front of me and Im going to overcome it, she said.

Evbagharu said candidates of color on the Democratic side rarely get the kind of backing from their party that white candidates do.

ORourke, he noted, has lost a statewide and national race, yet will lead the top of the ticket next year. ORourke raised about $80 million in 2018 in his race against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, however, he largely accomplished that with his own celebrity, and those funds did not flow to the rest of the Democratic slate.

That same year, the Democrat running for governor, Lupe Valdez, a Latina and former Dallas County sheriff, raised $1.9 million in a bid to defeat Abbott in 2018 where she lost by 13 percentage points. Valdez, like ORourke, was a first-time statewide candidate, but at one point in the campaign she trailed Abbott by 100-to-1 in the fundraising race. ORourke had run multiple congressional races and barnstormed all 254 of Texas counties for the Senate race.

This week, ORourke announced he had raised $2 million in the first 24 hours since launching his gubernatorial campaign, eclipsing Valdezs total funds for her gubernatorial run.

Sharon Navarro, a political scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said Valdez did not receive the support a top-of-the-ticket candidate would expect, which contributed to a floundering campaign.

If youre a minority and youre a Democrat, the stereotype is that youre branded a loser, whereas the Republicans will regroup and find the way to victory, she said.

Valdez did not return a request for comment.

In 2014, Wendy Davis, who had gained national prominence for her filibuster of an abortion bill in the state Senate, lost the governors race to Abbott by 20 percentage points despite raising almost $40 million. She has since run again for congress and lost. Davis is white.

But the Democratic Partys biggest flop was not for lack of money. In 2002, Democrats ran their so-called Dream Team, which included Tony Sanchez, a wealthy Latino oilman and banker who self-funded his campaign, and Ron Kirk, a Black former mayor of Dallas and Texas secretary of state.

Sanchez lost to then-Gov. Rick Perry by 18 percentage points, and Kirk lost to John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate race by 12. The best performing member of the Dream Team was John Sharp, a white conservative Democrat, who lost the lieutenant governor race to David Dewhurst by 6 percentage points.

That tickets catastrophic failure may have turned off donors from funding candidates of color for statewide office. But Navarro said the problem runs deeper than that: The states Democratic Party lacks structure and a message.

There is no real long-term investment in cultivating generations of voters because it takes time and money, Navarro said. It isnt enough to just simply register voters and expect them to vote Democrat. It isnt enough to run a person of color without party structure or message.

Its not just fundraising, critics say, its a lack of recruitment. Democrats, who are quick to campaign on issues of diversity, inclusion and equity, could be doing more to open doors for candidates of color.

Merritt, the attorney general candidate, said he was not recruited to run. An attorney for the family of George Floyd, Merritt decided to run after advising Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden, on criminal justice and police accountability issues.

Its a shortcoming of the Democratic Party, he said. It never crossed their mind that someone like me should be running for office.

The partys own analysis of the 2020 elections found shortcomings in its Black voter turnout. While Black turnout overperformed expectations and overwhelmingly supported Democrats, Republicans were more successful at growing Black voter turnout than Democrats, raising concerns.

If we want to win [statewide], weve got to shake some stuff up, Evbagharu said.

Part of that shake-up would include recruiting and training more candidates of color and providing them the funding to run successful campaigns, he said.

But Brown pushed back, saying the party actively recruits candidates and puts on training for potential candidates, as well as connecting campaigns with experienced political staff. Theyve also focused on registering more Democratic voters.

Evbagharu also said Democrats may need to take a page from Republicans, who often invest in candidates in close races for multiple cycles before claiming victory. For example, Monica De La Cruz, a Republican running for Congress in the Rio Grande Valley, lost her race against Democratic incumbent Vicente Gonzalez in 2020 by 3 percentage points.

Republicans framed that loss as a victory for the GOP because of the huge gains they saw, and they are continuing to fight for the district as part of their overall strategy to win elections in South Texas next year. As of September, she had raised nearly $1 million, on par with Gonzalez, and she was named to the National Republican Congressional Committees Young Guns program for candidates to watch.

But challenges remain for candidates of color, regardless of party.

Running for office isnt easy, said Garza, the Democratic attorney general candidate. You need to have the grit and determination and belief in yourself to do it and then have the ability to get people on your side.

She said she isnt concerned about the Black and Latino candidates on the GOP ticket because their policies do not help voters in those communities.

Its not enough that folks on the Republican ticket are people of color. You need to show your work, she said. What do you stand for? And who do you stand for? What were seeing on the right is folks that stand for corporations and big interests and dont stand up for the little guy, for everyday Texans.

Navarro said Democrats will have to perfect their messaging on this point to be successful, not simply rely on voters of color to side with them. Earlier this month, Republicans in Virginia flipped the major statewide offices by making the election about wedge issues like so-called critical race theory and forcing Democrats on the defensive. Texas Republicans could do the same on issues like border and election security.

Republicans have a better understanding of how to create the message and how to flip it for the audience, Navarro said.

Jean Card, a Republican political analyst, said that strategy paid off in Virginia, where the GOP elected Winsome Sears, a Jamaican-born Black woman, as lieutenant governor and Jason Miyares, the son of a Cuban immigrant, as the states first Latino attorney general.

What we saw here was policy over personality, Card said. Thats why they were so effective as candidates.

White said he focuses his campaign talking points on his decade of experience at the statehouse, where he pushed for rural interests, and his knowledge of agriculture, which is relevant to the position hes seeking.

When youre actually doing diversity that means youre talking to everybody, listening to everybody, being respectful of everyones point of view, White said, you dont have to talk about it.'

Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Correction: A previous version of this story quoted political scientist Sharon Navarro saying the Democratic Party promised Lupe Valdez funding ahead of her 2018 campaign for governor. Party officials say they did not offer any funding promises.

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Texas Democrats' 2022 field shaping up to be very white - The Texas Tribune

Wokeness Is Not the Democrats Problem – The New Yorker

A year after Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the Presidential election, and nearly ten months after a Trump-led mob laid siege to the nations Capitol, a new round of elections yielded mixed results for the Democratic Party, which lost the Virginia governors race and came close to losing New Jerseys. An unrepentant and insurgent Republican Party has motivated its base with the so-called culture war over public-school curriculum, opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, and relentless attacks on the entirety of Bidens political program. Meanwhile, months after Democrats passed the most expensive domestic spending bill since the War on Poverty, they remain mired in internal conflict over the purpose and possibility of their congressional majority. Political observers have pointed to Republicans spirited turnout on November 2nd as evidence that their culture war tactics are working. But that doesnt explain the enthusiasm gap that threatens the political fortunes of the Democratic Party. Unfulfilled expectations, not the often invoked wokeness, are what clouds Democrats horizons.

The gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey offer only a snapshot of contemporary politics, but both contests have been portrayed as referenda on the Biden Administration. And in both states Biden and his surrogates, including former President Barack Obama, rallied voters in person, indicating the importance of the elections. Afterward, what set off alarm bells among Democrats was Republicans enormous voter participation. In Virginia, the former Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe captured almost two hundred thousand more votes than the winning ticket in 2017. And yet he still lost to the former corporate executive Glenn Youngkin, who captured more than four hundred thousand more votes than the 2017 Republican challenger. Republican voters overperformed in every Republican county, indicating their excitement and motivation. Not only did Youngkin win, but his big turnout helped Republicans win down the entire ballot, allowing the G.O.P. to wrest control of the Virginia statehouse from the Democrats.

Although Phil Murphy became the first Democratic governor to win relection in New Jersey since 1977, historically high turnout among Republicans across the state made the race much closer than anyone imagined. His Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, a former state representative and a featured speaker at a November, 2020, Stop the Steal rally, trailed by double digits throughout most of the campaign, only to lose by three points. Ciattarelli, who did not concede until more than a week after the race was called, gained almost three hundred and seventy thousand more votes than the Republican who lost to Murphy in the 2017 governors race. Even more significant was the dramatic loss of the powerful Democratic president of the New Jersey state senate, Steve Sweeney, to a Republican truck driver, Edward Durr, who had no backing from the state G.O.P. and spent just over twenty-three hundred dollars on his campaign.

What is driving this surge of Republicans to the polls? The Party has found new political traction on invented issues like critical race theory in public-school curricula, while still being fuelled by the notion that Trump was robbed of the election last fall. In Virginia, Youngkin deployed an ad featuring a white woman who led a campaign against teaching Toni Morrisons Beloved in Virginia public schools. Youngkin vowed to ban critical race theory in his states public schools on Day One. But there are also real issues on which the G.O.P. offers positions distinct from those of the Democrats, including the economy, immigration, crime, and federal vaccine mandates. In some areas, Republicans tend to want heightened government action, supporting the police and a tightening of the U.S. border, but they are simultaneously expressing suspicion of the state, opposing Bidens spending proposals and bolstering claims of government overreach on vaccine mandates. These differing positions, including a fierce opposition to a perceived effort to defund the police, allow Republican officials to portray themselves as battling on behalf of an aggrieved voting constituency. Republicans feel as if they are in a struggle for the direction of the country, and they have been able to clearly identify the issues around which they are fighting.

The new momentum for Republican candidates provoked anxiety and finger-pointing among Democrats. Republican gains in presumed Democratic Party strongholds have unleashed dire predictions about the 2022 midterms and assessments that the Democratic Party has been captured by the left, alienating voters with big spending and a politically correct agenda. In some ways, this is a repeat of the intra-party rancor that ensued as the Party assessed its loss of thirteen House seats in the 2020 election. There has to be a reckoning within our ranks about this because a lot of Justice Democratsa progressive groupdont give a damn about the Democratic Party, one unnamed critic told the Washington Post last year. Theyre all about purity and orthodoxy, and it is damaging our opportunities. This time around, moderates have pointed to the size of Bidens Build Back Better bill as a culprit in the electoral losses. In dispensing electoral advice to the Democrats, the New York Times editorial board looked to last years election and concluded, Mr. Biden did not win the Democratic primary because he promised a progressive revolution. There were plenty of other candidates doing that. He captured the nominationand the presidencybecause he promised an exhausted nation a return to sanity, decency and competence. Representative Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat from Virginia, said, Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.

The script of the left mucking up the Partys chances with wokeness also still holds strong. The Democratic strategist James Carville left little doubt where blame lay for the Election Night losses. Dont just look at Virginia and New Jersey, he said. Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Washington. I mean, this defund the police lunacy, this take Abraham Lincolns name off of schools. People see that, and it really has a suppressive effect all across the country. Carville was pointing, among other things, to the Buffalo mayors race, in which India Walton, an activist and democratic socialist, defeated Mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic primary, only to lose the general election to Brown, who launched a write-in campaign. Recently, Walton told a national online audience of progressive organizers that her opponent and his wing of the party actively colluded with the G.O.P. After his win, Brown told the Washington Post that mainstream Democrats need to stand up and fight back against the left, because its making it more difficult to get things done at the national level and its not good for the country.

These critiques share an assessment that the Party is dominated by its left wing and pursuing a political agenda at odds with the wishes of the broader American public. A review of the events of 2020 reveals a different state of affairs. For most of his long career as a Democrat, Biden was a small-government deficit hawk, but the onset of the pandemic and the eruption of powerful protests pushed him and his party to embrace an agenda of political change. The pandemic had exposed two realities: that the government, on every level, was ill prepared to handle a national disaster, and that the threadbare safety net exposed poor workers of color to the worst of a public-health crisis. In the middle of protests, the Democratic Party pledged a new social and economic contract, including an increase in the minimum wage, Section 8 housing vouchers for every eligible family, and affordable child care.

Nearly two months after he was inaugurated as President, Biden signed into law the nearly two-trillion-dollar American Rescue Plan Act, one of the largest domestic spending bills in American history. The gigantic bill included expanded unemployment benefits, rental assistance, direct stimulus payments, billions for public schools and beyond. Democrats also led successful efforts to expand the child tax credit and the earned-income-tax-credit programs to allow for more benefits and to broaden eligibility. The Biden Administration oversaw a twenty-five-per-cent increase in food-stamp benefitsthe largest in the history of the program. In the face of mounting food insecurity, Bidens U.S.D.A. also extended free school lunch programs into next year. By early April, just weeks after the bill was signed into law, Biden enjoyed the highest combined approval ratings of his Presidency, at fifty-five per cent.

The infrastructure bill that has been the source of angst within the Democratic Party pitted Biden against centrists within the Party looking to scale back spending and rein in the creation of new programs. The bill was finally signed into law by Biden, but vastly diminished in size and scope after stonewalling by Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, with a fraction of the money needed to fully address the infrastructure crises that abound in the country. For example, fifteen billion dollars is dedicated to removing lead pipes in water systems, but experts have estimated that sixty billion is necessary to do the job. A hundred billion dollars to fix the deplorable condition of American public schools was dropped entirely from the final bill.

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Wokeness Is Not the Democrats Problem - The New Yorker