Surprising recent elections highlight shifts in political opinion

Maggie Lo ’23

Some historically progressive Democrat populations elected Republican candidates in recent elections or came close to it. Two prominent opinions have emerged on how the Democrats should move forward when thinking about the midterm elections of 2022: they should set out bold progressive agendas, or conversely, they should become more moderate. Many EA student voters and political clubs like Young Republicans and Young Democrats have started conversations about the elections and what they imply about the US’s future.

In one of the closest races, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe for Governor of Virginia, a position that a Republican had not held since 2009. Youngkin gained popularity in part through his advocacy of banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools. Many parents supported him because they wanted a say in how race is taught to their children. Youngkin emerged victorious with 50.6% of the votes compared to McAuliffe’s 48.6%, according to CNN.

In the New Jersey gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli barely lost with 48% of the votes against incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy’s 51.2%. In the 2018 election, by contrast, Murphy won with almost 57% of the votes as mentioned in CNN. The state has been reliably Democratic, voting for Democrat presidential candidates since 1992. The New Jersey state senate election of 2021 highlights another significant Democrat loss, when Republican truck driver Edward Durr Jr. beat Democrat and incumbent state senate president since 2010, Steve Sweeney. 

These elections demonstrate a reversal in political opinion since the 2020 presidential election where Democrat Joe Biden beat Republican Donald Trump Jr. with the most votes for a presidential candidate in U.S. history, and Democrats carried both the House and the Senate. Many forecasts for the midterm elections of 2022 are also changing. Michael Whalen, Upper School History Teacher and teacher-advisor of Young Republicans, explains, “To me, often what happens in these elections, off-year elections, are usually very indicative of what’s going to happen in the coming year.”

Differing opinions have surfaced on what the Democrats should do next in order to improve their chances at the 2022 elections, and they mainly surround two possible bills: the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act, which looks to enhance child care and healthcare as well as expand the US’ fight against climate change. 

Bold progressive Democrats do not want to take a defensive stance and instead want to pass both of these bills as soon as possible, reasoning that legislative wins will result in substantial benefits to the American people who will then reward them electorially. They believe that the Democrats lost the recent elections because they did not appear to be strong or progressive enough. 

On the other hand, more pragmatist Democrats conclude that they need to be more moderate and should address the electorate’s fears of inflation, increasing taxes, and expansive government. The New York Times editorial board agrees and emphasizes a need “to return to the moderate policies and values that fueled the blue-wave victories in 2018 and won Joe Biden the presidency in 2020.”

Anika Agarwal ‘23, member of Young Democrats, responds to the elections, saying, “The Democrats don’t have a cohesive nation-wide strategy at the grassroots level. The Republicans have been working on winning over local and state governments since the 70s, and it has clearly paid off. The Democrats suffer from a lot of internal conflict and have a hard time uniting for the common goal of simply getting other Democrats in office. Republicans have very effective messaging to their voters, and I seriously think that it would benefit Democrats to actually implement a similar strategy rather than improvise every election.”

Agarwal and others have utilized Young Democrats Club meetings to talk about the elections. Dan Baxter, Upper School Science Teacher and teacher-advisor of Young Democrats, explains, “The main focus of the discussions have been fact-finding as well as conversations about the facts. The students plan to send out some information on volunteering opportunities in order to have Democrats within the school be more proactive starting with young voters.”

He adds, “The sense within the club is that the recent results will give Democrats more of a sense of urgency heading towards the midterms and an awareness that a political tide seems to be shifting away from the Democrats. There’s been some good, robust conversations about the need to compromise within the Democratic party.” Finally, Baxter emphasizes that the students in Young Democrats “recognize the differences in opinion within the Democratic party and within the club itself, and they embrace the spectrum of views that exists.”

Young Republicans Club also plans to talk about the elections. Alex Barrist ‘24, President of Young Republicans, comments, “We’ve missed the last two meetings after the elections, so we haven’t had much time to speak about those elections. I definitely want to talk about them in depth in our next meeting.” Barrist and Whalen are also excited to talk about the diversity of winning Republican candidates. Barrist says, “I think it’s pretty cool that Republican Winsome Sears is the first woman of color in Virginia to be elected as lieutenant governor.” Whalen continues, “I think that was cool too. Republican Jason Miyares, the attorney general who was elected in Virginia, was Latino, so it was a pretty diverse ticket.”