Glenn Youngkin win could be first broadside in war on liberal Woke America
Liberal Democrats ought to be petrified by the disappointing election results across the country as of Wednesday, November 3. Republican Glenn Youngkin's shocking win over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial race is just a snapshot of what next year's midterms and the 2024 general could look like.
Aside from Youngkin's upset victory that flipped a longstanding blue state to red, New Jersey Republican Jack Ciatarelli is currently leading by about 1,200 votes out of 2.3 million over incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who was favored by major polls. In Buffalo, New York, the Democrats' far-left mayoral nominee in Buffalo, New York failed to gain traction among voters despite endorsements by progressive heavyweights Sen Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. Over in Minneapolis, residents have voted against defunding the police in a stunning blow to woke policies. In a nutshell, it was a bad day all around for liberals in America.
RELATED ARTICLES
Who is Glenn Youngkin's wife? VA's potential Guv calls Suzanne 'God's greatest gift'
Who is Michelle Wu's husband? Internet rallies for Boston's mayor hopeful
While the New Jersey race is too close to call and likely headed for a recount, one cannot ignore the fact that an election this tight just shows how much energy Republicans brought to the polling booths heading into Tuesday night, November 2. These results have managed to rock the Democratic political establishment and cast doubts on the future of the party. Voters responded to the unprecedented surge in prices of basic commodities as well as the delta variant. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's botched withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan did not help the Democrats' chances, and their massive spending agenda remains indefinitely stalled on Capitol Hill.
All these factors contributed to a steady decline in Biden's poll numbers and political capital. The stunner this time, of course, was Democrats losing an election in a state Biden apparently won by 10 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election and is essentially tied in a state he won by 16. It's worth noting that the Virginia election is one of the first chances for the sitting president's opponents to register their frustration. Meanwhile, New Jersey has a history of bucking the system considering no Democratic governor has won reelection in the state since 1977. McAuliffe certainly did not help his cause by obsessing over former President Donald J Trump throughout his campaign, as well as telling parents they had no right to tell schools "what they should teach" their respective wards.
Conservative pundit Meghan McCain, daughter of late Republican Sen John McCain, called the results a "revenge of the parents" and agreed it was a bad omen for Democrats' hopes in the coming elections. "So what has happened? In the simplest terms possible - it is revenge of the parents," McCain wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Mail. "It’s the culmination of the past eighteen months of teachers unions shutting down schools and refusing to reopen them, the rise and spread of Critical Race Theory, the scandal of a girl’s rape in a bathroom by a boy wearing a skirt, and the subsequent coverup by the teachers’ board, of parents being called ‘domestic terrorists’ for daring to dissent and finally Terry McAullif’s tone-deaf comment that ‘parents shouldn't be involved in the classroom." She added, "It has all resulted in a historic win, a historic wave of red - the Red Wedding of all election wins for Republicans."
Having said that, Virginia and New Jersey weren't the only disappointing races for Democrats. Things are looking murky for the progressive wing of the party, led by Sen Sanders and the congressional 'Squad' that includes Ocasio-Cortez, Mondaire Jones of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. As mentioned, voters in the city of Minneapolis rejected a ballot measure to revamp policing drafted following nationwide protests over George Floyd's death at the hands of a police officer. The vote made it clear that constituents were more concerned about gun violence than the highly-publicized protest movement against police brutality. The status-quo affirming result, as projected by CNN, marked a setback to both citywide and national efforts to overhaul policing in America.
Meanwhile, despite garnering the support of two of the most prominent progressives in the nation, the Democrat party far-left mayoral nominee in Buffalo, New York, trailed behind the incumbent mayor she defeated in a primary earlier this year. Progressive India Walton enjoyed the backing of both US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and US Sen Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., but voters decided to stick with four-term Democratic Mayor Byron Brown, a moderate.
One can argue that the Democrats are already fighting an uphill battle to retain control of the House in the 2022 midterms as voters across the nation appear to reject the brand of "wokeism" espoused by the left-wing in recent years. These results surely won't help morale among members of the party, and we could see a number of congressional Democrats jump ship and retire in the coming days.