Posted on Nov 1, 2021 9:18 AM
They put all their political weight into the battle. After Barack Obama, Joe Biden came to support Terry McAuliffe for the election, this Tuesday, of the future governor of Virginia. A year after the presidential election, this ballot has become a test of popularity for the White House in just a few weeks.
The Democrats initially thought they could win easily, in this state won with ten points in advance by Joe Biden, and located at the gates of the capital Washington. But they saw Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin climb in the polls, threatening the one who once held the highest office in Virginia. The advantage is now even slightly in favor of the Republican, former head of the Carlyle investment fund.
All Americans are being called to the polls for local polls this week: the Tuesday following the first Monday in November is Election Day in the United States. But the national stakes are traditionally limited the year following the presidential election. Legislative elections, which renew all mandates in the House of Representatives and one-third of those in the Senate, take place in the mid-presidential term – in November 2022.
Fall in popularity
In an attempt to win in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin kept a good distance from Donald Trump, preferring to focus on local debates such as school, but nevertheless very politicized around questions of school curricula.
On the Democratic side, the difficulty of finding a quick agreement on the investment plan and passing it in Congress could weigh on Terry McAuliffe’s chances. The abandonment of the plan to finance paid maternity leave could in particular divert the female electorate. The candidate also fears being penalized by the fall in popularity of Joe Biden since the withdrawal into the chaos of Afghanistan.
The vote in Virginia will have confirmed a trend observed a year ago: campaign funding now extends far beyond the borders of the states concerned, donors from other states now largely putting their hand in the wallet to save their camp. The Republican Governors Association on one side, Democrats on the other, also wrote multi-million dollar checks to fund the two campaigns.
Police referendum
In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy also defends his title, with a better chance of winning. Several large cities will also change mayors, including New York, Boston and Atlanta. The three will remain Democrats, like the largest metropolises in the country.
Among the local referendums that are also often offered to voters, the one on the transformation of the police force in Minneapolis will be among the polls watched closely. In the town where African American George Floyd was killed by a white policeman in the spring of 2020, there is a proposal to turn the Police Department into a Public Safety Department.
The project would mean more control of the municipal council, without however the mode of operation of the new entity being at this stage very precise, in particular in terms of police force. The outgoing mayor Jacob Frey, who is representing himself, is hostile to the project, and proposes instead to return to the budget cuts of last year.
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