[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 193 (Wednesday, November 3, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7695-S7696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Election Results

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, last night, the American people sent an 
unmistakable message to the Democratic Party: We don't like your 
agenda, we don't want your agenda, and we won't vote for your agenda or 
for you.
  During this election, the Democratic Party was exposed for what it 
has become: a party that holds police, parents, and patriotism in 
contempt. And now the Democrats have paid the price. The Democrats will 
continue to pay that price until they reject the repugnant radicalism 
that has infected their party.
  The Democratic defeat last night was not in a single State or one 
county or some isolated municipality. It was not some isolated 
incident. It was not the result of just a single quirky issue or a bad 
candidate. It was a nationwide disaster and wipeout for the Democratic 
Party.
  After 12 years of uninterrupted statewide victories in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia, Democrats appear to have lost not one, not 
two, but all three statewide races this year, along with control of the 
Virginia House of Delegates. And the only reason they didn't lose the 
Virginia State Senate is the State senate wasn't on the ballot last 
night.
  I would remind you that Virginia is not a swing State, as you may 
have heard this morning to excuse the Democrats' terrible performance. 
Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points. It has been 12 years since 
Virginia voted for a Republican. Virginia is a Democratic State and has 
been for more than a decade. Yet, now, Joe Biden's acolytes have been 
soundly defeated by Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, 
Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears, and Attorney General-elect 
Jason Miyares. It is remarkable how quickly the President's party has 
frittered away all of the good will in Virginia.
  Now, I have also heard some Democrats try to explain away the loss in 
Virginia by saying Terry McAuliffe was a bad candidate. Now, I 
certainly have no grief for Terry McAuliffe, but I would say that Terry 
McAuliffe was such a bad candidate that he also is causing the 
Democratic Governor in New Jersey to lose. Joe Biden won that State by 
16 points, and at this moment, the Governor's race is too close to 
call--too close to call. So it is at least a 16-point swing even if the 
Democratic Governor squeaks it out.
  Oh, by the way, the Democratic State senate president, one of the key 
power brokers in New Jersey, appears to be on his path to losing to a 
Republican truckdriver who spent a grand total of $153 on his campaign 
but someone who said: I am a dad and I am a grandfather, and I think 
that we are taxed too much and that we need better representation.
  If anyone had told Governor Phil Murphy and the Democrats yesterday 
that this would be a close race, he would have been laughed out of the 
room. Yet outrage against Democratic policies is rampant even in deep 
blue New Jersey.
  Looking across State lines in New York, there was a similarly 
shocking outcome, with Republicans apparently sweeping every office in 
Long Island--every office in Long Island--driven in no small part by 
the insane, pro-criminal policies of the New York Democrats who want to 
eliminate cash bail and defund the police and go soft on criminals and 
let them out of jail early.
  Speaking of that, let's turn to deep, deep blue Minneapolis, MN, 
where the BLM riots got kicked off last summer, where Democratic 
``defund the police'' radicals have waged an unrelenting war on their 
city's police force. In a referendum to replace the police department, 
56 percent of voters revolted and voted to keep the police department 
just the way it is--thank you very much.
  This should teach the Democrats an important lesson. If ``defund the 
police'' can't win in a city that has been run entirely by Democratic 
mayors for nearly a half-century, it is not going to win anywhere.
  Now, if this was a bad night for Democrats, it was an even worse 
night for the woke, far-left progressives who dominate in the 
Democratic Party. In Buffalo, NY, voters appear to have rejected this 
Democratic radicalism. Self-proclaimed socialist mayoral candidate 
India Walton had actually beaten the incumbent Democratic mayor earlier 
this year for the nomination, but now India Walton is losing to the 
current mayor in a write-in campaign--a write-in campaign.
  Again, if your far-left policies can't even win when you are your 
party's nominee and in a city that has been run entirely by Democrats 
for a half-century, you had better believe they are bad and unpopular 
policies that will cost you your next election.
  Finally, as far away as San Antonio, Republicans have flipped a 
largely Hispanic district long considered a Democratic bastion in a 
clear sign that Republican inroads with Hispanic voters last year were 
not a fluke.
  So what is responsible for this astounding red wave unlike anything 
we have seen in years? Well, if you listen to some in the media this 
morning, the answer is the same as always: It is Republican racism. 
Glenn Youngkin is apparently a smiling, fleece-jacket wearing 
reincarnation of Democratic demagogues. But if you look at the map and 
you look at the actual results, this laughable attack is exposed for 
what it is: dishonest propaganda.
  As part of this supposedly racist or White supremacist backlash 
election, more than half of Hispanic voters appear to have pulled the 
lever for Glenn Youngkin. Not one but two plurality-Black Virginia 
State House districts flipped to the GOP. Best of all for this 
supposedly racist or White supremacist backlash election, Virginia 
voters just elected the State's first Black female Lieutenant Governor. 
That woman is Winsome Sears, a gun-toting immigrant, Marine veteran, 
and a proud conservative Republican.
  So much for the media spin. Now for the truth. According to exit 
polls, the top issues on voters' minds were the economy and education. 
Both spelled disaster for the Democrats.
  For months, Americans have watched with alarm as Democrats have 
shoveled trillions of dollars into liberal priorities while inflation 
has surged upwards. They have suffered skyrocketing costs at the 
grocery store and the gas pump.
  First, the Democrats said this is merely transitory inflation. Then 
they laughed it off as a joke, and they said: Sorry. You will have to 
lower your expectations. It may take you a while to get your treadmill.
  Then they demanded trillions of dollars more in their so-called Build 
Back Better initiative, which should perhaps be called ``build back 
broke'' if you are a working family.
  So when Glenn Youngkin offered to eliminate Virginia's onerous 
grocery tax and cut the progressive gas tax, normal Virginians 
listened, and they voted.
  American parents have also been ignored and mistreated by the schools 
that are supposed to be teaching their kids. Remote learning was a 
disaster for America's children. Some have fallen months behind in 
their development, and many more have suffered the consequences of 
social isolation. But if there is a silver lining in this tragedy, it 
is that parents were finally able to see the nonsense that their kids 
were being taught: critical race theory, indoctrinated to see 
everything and everyone first and foremost by the color of their skin 
and to hate their country. Parents were outraged, and parents were 
right to be outraged.
  Now, the Democrats' response to this controversy reminds me of the 
old line

[[Page S7696]]

that that dog didn't bite you; he is not my dog; he kicked you first. 
Their first response was that critical race theory is a figment of your 
imagination. And they said it is not taught in Virginia. And they said: 
Well, it should be taught anyway because our schools and our 
institutions are so racist.
  Then again, they also said that there was no threat of having teenage 
boys in girls' bathrooms. We now know that Loudoun County didn't just 
cover up one rape--one rape--of a teenage girl by a boy dressed as a 
girl but then transferred that boy to another school, where he 
committed a second assault. Not surprisingly, parents in Loudoun County 
didn't take too kindly to the woke Democrats in charge of that school 
system.
  When their arguments failed to persuade, the Democrats tried a 
different tactic: silencing parents. Terry McAuliffe boldly claimed 
that parents shouldn't tell schools what they should teach their kids. 
Attorney General Merrick Garland even tried to sic the FBI on parents 
who showed up to protest at school board meetings.
  So it is no wonder that parents voted for Republicans in Virginia and 
across the country when the alternative was nothing but contempt and 
spite for parents raising their children as they see fit.
  So, yes, the American people are disappointed, dissatisfied, and, 
frankly, disgusted with the modern Democratic Party, which sneeringly 
claims that it knows best always and about everything. Now, if it did, 
it would have seen this coming.
  I would simply caution my Democratic colleagues, especially four 
future former one-term Senators, that if they don't change their ways, 
if they proceed with this reckless tax-and-spending bill, which 
includes over a trillion dollars in wasteful spending and which is 
littered with woke projects and leftist schemes, next year will be even 
worse. That chill you feel is the voters walking over your grave.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.