The first major elections during the Joe Biden presidency were extremely revealing—shocking, actually—for Democrats.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, managed to finally eke out a victory in the gubernatorial race against GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli, winning 50.02 percent of the vote (1,210,997 votes) to Ciattarelli’s 49.23 percent (1,191,703 votes), as of Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m.
But the dramatic closeness of the final results “may be a bigger shock for both him and the Democratic Party nationally than even Republican Glenn Youngkin’s come-from-behind win in the Virginia race for governor,” as The New York Post noted on Thursday morning.
Related: Youngkin Yanks Victory from McAuliffe’s Clutches in VA Gov’s Race
Biden’s poll numbers have continued to fall.
His big-spending domestic-policy agenda and legislative packages have so far failed to pass through Congress, and Americans in many ways are indicating they’ve had enough of Democrats’ divisive, race-baiting, high-taxing, politically correct and COVID-crisis-ridden way of looking at the country and attempting to govern it.
Particularly in Virginia, parents have stood up firmly for their children and indicated they do, in fact, have a say in how they’re taught and what they’re taught—and that Democrats in the state do not “own” their kids or decide solely what they’ll be fed day in and day out without the input, knowledge, and approval of the parents.
This week Americans made it clear that they want political ideology out of America’s public school classrooms. What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic? I just hope our politicians have sense enough to listen to pay attention to their constituents.
— Greg Laurie (@greglaurie) November 4, 2021
.@iandprior, the parents, and Fight for our Schools have started this movement of putting parents back in charge of their children’s lives! https://t.co/HUYQt77AOl
— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) November 4, 2021
Ciattarelli campaign reacts to AP decision: 'Irresponsible' to call vote this early for Murphy https://t.co/YqiRI6ZlL5 #FoxNews
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) November 4, 2021
BREAKING: Phil Murphy wins New Jersey governor race, @NBCNews projects. https://t.co/KpVUdCviw1 pic.twitter.com/Lqy8AXoLyv
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 4, 2021
During the Virginia governor’s race, Youngkin defended parents across the state regarding the education of their children—particularly after Democrat Terry McAuliffe, during a September campaign debate, said from the stage, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
“But parents knew better, and they laughed last,” wrote Carrie Sheffield, a senior policy analyst with Independent Women’s Voice,” about that type of unforgivable overreach.
Youngkin, a former private equity CEO and a first-time political candidate, ran what many are calling a disciplined campaign that should serve as a model for other Republicans in the years ahead. He focused on education, taxes, and crime—adhering mostly to local issues that affect voters on an everyday basis.
He “made major gains among suburban voters,” Fox News reported. Youngkin told supporters on Election Day in Chantilly, Va., “I’ve just felt this great surge of momentum for the last six to eight weeks.”
Youngkin pledged, “We’re going to embrace our parents, not ignore them. We’re going to press forward with a curriculum that includes listening to parents, as well as a curriculum that allows our children to run as fast as they can, teaching them how to think, enabling their dreams to soar. Friends, we are going to reestablish excellence in our schools.”
As even CNN said about the campaign, “McAuliffe labored against the exhaustion of Democratic voters, a more energized Republican base, and Biden’s waning popularity.”
‘God Was Exactly With Us,’ Says Winsome Sears
Meanwhile, Winsome Sears, the conservative GOP candidate who ran for Virginia’s lieutenant governor position, will become the first woman of color to serve in the second-highest elected office in Virginia.
In an impassioned speech on Tuesday night, she told supporters, “I’m telling you that what you are looking at is the American dream. The American dream.”
First black woman elected to state wide office in Virginia history and it took MSNBC almost a half hour to make a passing mention, without using her name. Winsome Sears! pic.twitter.com/S1P2vVff15
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) November 3, 2021
Shouldn't media be all over a black woman who immigrated from Jamaica, served in the Marines, has a Masters degree, ran a homeless women's shelter, raised 3 kids, and is now running to be the highest ranking minority woman gov't official in Virginia history? Winsome Sears: pic.twitter.com/ePseTRJn93
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) October 25, 2021
.@WinsomeSears DESTROYS @JoyAnnReid over her calling Republicans white nationalists: "I wish Joy Reid would invite me on her show. Let's see if she is woman enough…She talks about white supremacy. Does she know that I ran against a white supremacist?…I’m waiting for you." pic.twitter.com/s89XrFD2RY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 3, 2021
Winsome, a former Marine, emigrated to the U.S. as a child from Jamaica. Her father had come here before her, in August of 1963, with just $1.75 in his pocket, she told supporters. He came here for jobs and opportunity, she said.
“We’re going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good education,” she also said.
Sears is the mother of three daughters.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I am black, and I have been black all my life,” she also said. “But that’s not what this is about. What we are going to do is we are going to now be about the business of the commonwealth. We have things to tend to. We are going to fully fund our historically black colleges and universities.”
She ended with this beautiful note: “We ran an impossible, improbable campaign. God was exactly with us. Otherwise, we never would have made it. And so I want to finish up by thanking you, Jesus. How sweet it is!”
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—By CNJ Staff