In an exclusive interview with Breitbart, three House Republicans, including the party’s chief deputy whip, Representative Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.), declared that Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda following Tuesday’s debacle in Virginia is dead.
The day after the Democrats suffered stunning losses in Virginia and a near-death experience in deep-blue Democrat stronghold New Jersey, Ferguson said the results represent “a very strong pushback against government socialism.… I believe [Tuesday’s results] will eat away at [Democrats’] chances of passing the Build Back Better Act.… I think you saw the repudiation of their policies last night.”
The Biden agenda consists of two bills: one that has already passed the House, the so-called infrastructure bill costing $1.2 trillion; the other which remains in limbo even after being cut in half, the social-welfare monster estimated to cost $1.75 trillion.
Republicans are already licking their chops. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Calif.) announced that more than a dozen Democrat-held seats are being added to those the party thinks are vulnerable, suggesting that Republicans might be able to flip as many as 60 House seats next November.
Pollsters agree. Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics moved three Senate seats currently held by Democrats (Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada) from “lean Democratic” to “toss-up,” while Dave Wasserman with the Cook Political Report tweeted that Tuesday’s election results portend both houses of Congress turning Republican “comfortably” next November.
Democrats are defending 14 Senate seats, but Republicans need only to keep those they have and add but one more to regain control of the upper house.
Tuesday’s results are likely to dampen Democrats’ appetite for more spending, in light of the Virginia election results. Exit polls there showed voters were primarily concerned about the economy, schools, and crime. Low on their list of concerns were those of the Democrat agenda, namely Critical Race Theory and COVID-related mandates.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has already proven to be a stumbling block to the Biden agenda (along with Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona), reiterated his concerns on Wednesday: “I’ve been saying this for many, many months: People have concerns. People are concerned.”
Voters are seeing through the fraud that the bills will “pay for themselves” without raising taxes or causing inflation. Added Manchin, “We’re talking about revamping the whole entire tax code. That’s mammoth. We’ve had no hearings, no open hearings. [Voters] are scared to death.”
In some Wednesday-morning quarterbacking of Tuesday’s Democrat disaster in Virginia, James Pindell, writing for the ultra-liberal Boston Globe, said “Democrats should absolutely be freaking out” over the results, adding that “the future is, in fact, pretty bleak for Democrats.”
He cited three reasons: 1) “Running against Trump may not work anymore.… Democrats are going to have to find another boogeyman [to run against]”; 2) “Democrats have no message”; and 3) “The results on Tuesday may embolden hold-out Senators from passing big pieces of legislation.”
The latest Harvard Caps/Harris Poll, taken a week before Tuesday’s election, should have warned Democrats about the debacle in advance. Fifty-eight percent of those polled were opposed to the big spending bills being pushed by the Democrats, and 56 percent of them said they wouldn’t vote for anyone who voted to pass them.
On virtually every other issue — from the health of the economy to jobs to terrorism to immigration to foreign affairs to COVID mandates to running the government to crime and Afghanistan — Biden’s approval ratings were consistently and significantly underwater. The poll confirmed what other polls are showing: Approval of the Democrat Party has fallen precipitously, from 55 percent to 38 percent, in just the last month.
And the poll showed that congressional approval, with Democrats in control, has likewise dropped off a cliff: from 54 percent approval in June to 31 percent approval currently.
Perhaps most troubling to Democrats is the answer to the question, “If the election were held today would you vote for a Democrat or a Republican for Congress?” Republicans beat Democrats 45 percent to 42 percent.
Democrat anxiety is also being fueled by what happened in 2009, when Democrats suffered defeats in both the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races: Their party lost six Senate seats and 63 House seats in 2010.
Not only does the Biden “agenda” appear to be dead, but the Democrat Party could also suffer terminal political emasculation inflicted by voters next November.
