Biden suffers first defeat in Virginia
President Joe Biden suffered his first electoral defeat after a year in the White House. The Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, until now a lukewarm supporter of Donald Trump, won the election for governor of the state of Virginia with 50.7% of the votes against the 48.6% obtained by the Democratic candidate, Terry McAuliffe.
The state elections in Virginia were followed with double interest: first, to see if popular support for Biden and his administration is really declining, as reflected in the latest polls, and second, to observe indirectly the influence that former President Trump continues to have in his efforts to regain office in 2024.
The campaign was very close, and from the very beginning it was clear that the strength of the Democratic option was competing downward in the state, one of its fiefdoms. Virginia had held Democratic governors for more than a decade and in the last presidential election Biden had beaten Trump by ten points.
No analyst, among the many who follow US politics minute by minute, doubts that this is a major setback for Biden. Although his administration did not cause major tensions apart from Afghanistan, there were many decisions that tarnished the hopes placed in him. Not to mention the ongoing campaign of criticism of his predecessor, actively supported across the country by his 'hooligans' who will not give up.
The failure in Virginia is all the more significant because it is the first defeat and, at the same time, because of its impact on the mid-term legislative elections scheduled for twelve months from now, in which the president will be playing for majorities in the Senate and Congress, decisive for success in the two years that remain before the end of his term in office.
Meanwhile, parallel elections have also been held in the state of New Jersey. They are not as representative as those in Virginia, but they are also revealing how evenly matched the forces are. With 90% of the votes counted, the two candidates, Republican Cattareli and Democrat Murphy, are tied with 49.6% of the vote.
Both results represent a respite for the Republicans at a time when their internal discrepancies and the disturbing shadow of Trump seemed to show the deterioration of the loss of the Executive that they suffered in 2020. Biden's low point, certainly more so than his administration, is a testament to how quickly an image can be built up and torn down.