GOP sweeps Virginia statewide offices, CNN projects

Republican Jason Miyares will win the attorney general’s race in Virginia, CNN projects, solidifying the Republican sweep of statewide offices in Tuesday’s election.

President Biden shared his opinion on why Virginia governor’s race, which CNN projects Republican Glenn Youngkin won over Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

Biden also chalked up the loss to a “whole range of things,” including the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he said.

“People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things from Covid to school to jobs to a whole range of things,” the President said. “And the cost of a gallon of gasoline. And so if I’m able to pass, sign into law my Build Back Better initiative, I’m in a position where you’ll see a lot of those things ameliorated quickly and swiftly.”

Asked if takes responsibility for McAuliffe’s loss or if he thought the Democrat would have won if his Build Back Better agenda passed before Election Day, Biden said: “Well, I think we should have passed before Election Day. 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, maybe.”

A Biden adviser acknowledged to CNN that Terry McAuliffe’s loss in Virginia is a warning sign for Democrats’ chances in the midterms next year, but cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from a single election.

The adviser also argued that McAuliffe’s loss makes clear that Democrats can’t simply run against former President Trump to win elections going forward. (This despite Biden doing exactly that when he campaigned alongside McAuliffe last week.)

The adviser said that Biden’s team is optimistic that many of the headwinds McAuliffe faced in Virginia on Tuesday will be improved in time for the midterms next year: The pandemic is waning and White House officials believe Congress will soon pass the infrastructure and reconciliation packages.

That being said, Biden advisers today are taking stock of the loss in Virginia and a too-close-for-comfort outcome in New Jersey, largely channeling that energy into getting Biden’s legislative agenda passed.

Minneapolis election officials reported Wednesday that Mayor Jacob Frey will be reelected, based on unofficial results of ranked-choice tabulation. 

Former Minnesota state Rep. Kate Knuth finished with the second most votes in the final round, according to the unofficial data.

Frey was fending off challenges from 16 candidates. The Minneapolis mayor’s race touched on issues like affordable housing, the climate crisis and rent control, but the debate centered on the historic problems faced by the city’s police department and the question of how to make police more accountable to residents.

The most progressive candidates and allied groups increasingly framed the race as a referendum on Frey’s handling of the city’s police department and whether he did enough to rein in what critics perceive as over-policing by the department before George Floyd’s death.

Frey was endorsed by prominent Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and state Attorney General Keith Ellison.

CNN’s Maeve Reston contributed reporting to this post. 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s team is still waiting for the race to be called the day after election day — and they remain confident it will be for them – but they are already trying to assess what went wrong. 

For now, an obvious conclusion from the Murphy team is their people simply didn’t show up, and the other guy’s supporters did. 

A Murphy adviser said it is noteworthy to them that places like Hoboken had a fraction of the turnout compared to four years ago, while GOP areas like Ocean County had robust turnout. 

This adviser said while it is early to diagnose in detail why exactly enthusiasm wasn’t there for them this time around, they pointed to one issue as having been an animating factor that ultimately helped Jack Ciattarelli – masks and vaccines. 

“You saw astronomical turnout in places like Ocean (County) where people were up in arms on masks and vaccines,” the adviser said. “What you see is that people who are upset about vaccines and masks were more likely to vote on that than the people who were happy with his progress.”

CNN projects that Jason Mariner will win the Republican special primary in Florida’s 20th Congressional District and advance to the general election on Jan. 11.

In a district where President Biden won 77% of the vote, the Democratic primary remains too early to call. In that race, Dale Holness currently holds a 12 vote lead over Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

Some background: Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings, Florida’s longest-serving member of Congress, died in April. A crowded field of Democrats is vying for the nomination in the 20th District in southeast part of the state that includes parts of Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. It is one of the most Democratic-leaning districts in the state and expected to stay in their control after the general election on Jan. 11, 2022.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that “last night was a difficult evening for Democrats” and the results strongly rebuke President Biden and Democrat’s policies.

“The American people will not stand for this,” McConnell said in floor remarks. “That’s what voters told Democrats last night all across the country.”

He continued to say, “The results from different parts of our country demonstrate that this was in large part a referendum on national issues. But it’s not too late. Democrats should listen to the voters: drop this reckless taxing and spending spree, and stop trying to ram through a socialist transformation that the American people never asked for.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio congratulated Eric Adams on becoming mayor-elect during a news conference Wednesday morning.

Adams, a retired New York Police Department captain who embraced a public safety message, will be the second Black mayor in the city’s history, after the late David Dinkins.

De Blasio went on to say that he looks forward to “helping and supporting in any way over these next weeks as he gets ready.”

“I think it’s going to be an example of a really great handoff. Eric Adams is going to take us to the next level and help bring this recovery forward in our city. It’s a good day for New York City,” de Blasio said. 

CNN’s Gregory Krieg contributed reporting to this post. 

A source close to the White House argued the results in last night’s election showed that voters were expressing frustration with the lack of action in Washington and used the Democratic Party’s loss as a call to action on President Biden’s agenda.

“If voters are frustrated with inaction, the obvious response is to be more decisive and pass bills based on an agenda for the middle class that received a record-breaking 81 million votes last year,” the source added. “And there’s a strong consensus about that across the party. Doing less is plainly the opposite of what people want.”