Cheering Biden campaign claims stunning election results show the American people are ‘overwhelmingly siding’ with his views – as CNN analyst says it’s the president in trouble, not Democrats
Big wins in Tuesday night’s election results in Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky left Democrats trumpeting a path forward and the Biden campaign claiming his agenda was being validated — while a prominent analyst said it’s Biden, not his party, which has deep structural problems.
The results in key races among state caucuses were a stark contrast to the dismal polls for Biden that have come out over the past week. This includes a cheeky New York Times poll, in which he trailed Donald Trump in swing states, and a new CNN poll, in which he trailed Trump nationally by a score of 49 to 45.
Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won re-election in Kentucky against a Trump-backed candidate, voters in Ohio enshrined abortion protections in their state constitution and Democrats in Virginia captured the House of Representatives. That result was a stunning rebuke to rising star Governor Glenn Youngkin and his push for a 15-week abortion ban, and came at the same time Democrats were facing a “porn Democrat” as a candidate for a state House seat ( she lost on Tuesday). .
Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez muddied the results, which were a salve for consecutive days of bad political lulls.
The Biden campaign touted a series of election victories on Tuesday evening. Andy Beshear, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, gave a victory speech surrounded by his family members in Louisville on Tuesday evening, after a race in which he took steps to distance himself from Biden
“Tonight, Democrats won across the country because they continued to stand up for personal freedoms, defend democracy, and fight for working families. Voters from across the political spectrum once again showed up and voted for our agenda and rejected the dangerous MAGA extremism that has come to define today’s Republican Party at every level,” she said in a statement aired as the results came in.
“In hundreds of races since Donald Trump’s conservative Supreme Court nominations were overturned Roe v. WadeWe have seen Americans overwhelmingly side with President Biden and the Democrats’ vision for this country. That same choice will be before voters again this November, and we are confident that the American people will send President Biden and Vice President Harris back to the White House to continue working for them,” she said.
But another way to read the results is that the Democratic agenda can be popular if it is well packaged against Republican candidates or proposals — even if dissatisfaction with Biden continues.
The Biden campaign sees opportunity in Tuesday’s results, which show that “we saw Americans overwhelmingly side with President Biden and the Democrats’ vision for this country,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said. The state and local victories come amid a string of poor polling for the president
Democrats captured the Virginia House of Delegates even as “porn Democrat” Susanna Gibson lost her race in a swing district. Here, Gibson is photographed by DailyMail.com outside her home in Henrico, Virginia in the days following news that she and her husband had live-streamed sex for tips
Vice President Kamala Harris went after ‘extremists’ in statement praising the results of Ohio’s abortion ballot initiative
It was a night of victories for Democrats in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky
The poll is the latest to show Biden in trouble
“The country has soured on Joe Biden,” CNN political director David Chalian said as he pored over the results of the network’s poll. His approval rating was 39 percent, with 61 percent disapproval and just 34 percent among independents. Among Democrats surveyed, this was only 77 percent.
“Tonight is undoubtedly a good night for the Democrats. There’s no doubt about it,” Chalian said. “What we see tonight is that the Democratic brand is not in trouble here. Joe Biden is in trouble.”
That came after political strategist David Axelrod, who helped plan Barack Obama’s successful presidential bid, said after the Times poll that Biden should ask himself whether it was “wise” to seek reelection.
The results in Ohio once again showed that Democrats have a way to increase turnout and rally their own base.
The constitutional amendment that enshrined abortion rights in the Constitution prevailed in the Republican-leaning state by a lopsided margin of 57 to 43.
Vice President Kamala Harris praised this outcome in a statement sent by the White House on the No. 1 ballot initiative.
“The results in Ohio underscore what the vast majority of Americans believe: politicians should not interfere in decisions that should lie between a woman and her doctor. Since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn it Roe v. Wade, People across the country have voted to defend reproductive freedom every time it appeared on the ballot – including in Kansas, California, Michigan, Montana, Kentucky and Vermont,” she continued.
“While President Biden and I work to protect reproductive freedom, extremists are pushing for a national abortion ban that would criminalize reproductive health care in every state in our country,” she said.