Democrats Collapse on Election Day

On November 2nd 2021, statewide election races were held in several states across the country. Though this year was not a general election or a midterm election, it got much attention from the media and both major political parties. This is because the governor's race of Virginia was neck and neck heading into the election even though Virginia went +10 for Biden during last year's general election; this was due to bad campaigning and a scandal in Loudoun county where a girl was raped by a transgender male in school and the school board covered it up. White suburban Virginians became fed up with the Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe and decided to vote for political outsider and Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin. Younkgin, a political novice who used to be the CEO of the Carlyle group, is now the Governor elect of Virginia and won the election by +2 over Terry McAuliffe. As well as the governorship, the Virginia GOP also carried the Lieutenant governors and attorney generals races, taking back the Virginia House of delegates and completely sweeping the Democrats in Virginia. Virginia, however, wasn’t the most surprising race of the night. The real surprise was in New Jersey as a +17 Biden state had nearly elected a Republican governor along with a man who used $153 for his entire campaign to upset the New Jersey Senate President who spent a million dollars for his reelection. But why do these races matter? They matter because they could determine how future elections will turn out if things don’t change. They may also determine how the major political parties will act until the midterms.