The time has come for doubts in the Democratic camp. Certainly, Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump on November 3 and an electoral miracle could still offer him on the wire the shortest of the majorities in the Senate after the two elections which are the subject of a second round in Georgia, the January 5. But dreams of a ballot tidal wave that would have reduced the incumbent president’s term to a parenthesis were abruptly dissipated on election night. And many of the Democratic Party’s certainties have been swept aside after the losses in the House of Representatives elections.
The Democrats hoped to increase their majority there, on the contrary it was divided by two and it will be defended from the mid-term elections which will be held in 2022. These latter are traditionally delicate for the party of a new president, the routs stinging of 1994 and 2010 are there to recall it.
The setbacks in the House have left their mark, although the Democratic leadership is expected to remain unchanged with Nancy Pelosi in the post of speaker, Steny Hoyer as Majority Leader and Jim Clyburn as Deputy, three octogenarians.
On November 5, two days after the election, Virginia representative Abigail Spanberger, narrowly reelected, opened hostilities during a conference call. Former CIA, her victory in 2018 in a Republican stronghold illustrated the Democrats’ ability to attract voters from peri-urban areas. This moderate felt that many candidates had paid the price for the complacency of some Democrats vis-à-vis the slogan “Defund the police” hammered during demonstrations against police violence. This slogan was effectively exploited by the Republican Party against the Democrats who, however, had not taken it on their own. The defeat of outgoing Max Rose, in Rhode Island, or the failure of Cameron Webb in Virginia, can be explained mainly by this devastating use.
The moderates facing the left wing
Abigail Spanberger also called into question another semantic weakness during the same phone call. “We must never use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ again. Because people think it doesn’t matter, but it does. And we lost some good members [de la Chambre] because of this “, she assured.
In an interview with New York Times, Conor Lamb, elected in a disputed district of Pennsylvania, added the slogan of the prohibition of hydraulic fracturing defended by the left wing, which Joe Biden nevertheless opposed. “These things are not only unpopular, they are completely unrealistic and they will not happen. And this amounts to false promises on the part of the people who claim them ”, he assured.
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