Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said Wednesday that congressional Democrats are to blame for Terry McAuliffe losing the VA governor’s race to Republican Glenn Youngkin.
“Look, congressional Dems hurt Terry McAuliffe,” said Kaine. “Our inability to come together and get a result hurt him.”
Kaine said McAuliffe was a “solid candidate.”
“I think it was on the shoulders of Democrats here who have the majority,” he said. “People had a lot of hope for Joe Biden and the Joe Biden agenda, but Democrats didn’t want to give Biden a win,” he said.
He continued to say that he thinks the responsibility is shared between all congressional Democrats.
“It’s on progressives who wanted to be too purist, it’s on moderates who wanted to be too purist, on the House who wanted it their way and the Senate who wanted it their way,” he said. “You got to be able to make a deal and deliver results … They want more results and we got to deliver because we are the majority and they expect us to deliver.”
With Democrats losing in Virginia and a really narrow result in New Jersey, Kaine said they “now have a tough narrative that we have to face.”
“Democrats control both houses and they have to act like it,” he added. “Have to be disciplined, have to get results.”
Kaine also pushed back on the idea that the result in Virginia was a rejection of Democrats’ proposed sweeping social policy changes.
“No, they would love, absolutely love like pre K and childcare, are you kidding me that’s exactly what suburban parents are hungry for, especially after a tough pandemic,” he said.