Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that after Terry McAuliffe lost the gubernatorial race in Virginia, Democrats needed to go to the defense readiness condition of DEFCON 2.
Connolly said, “Somebody has to explain how a 10 percentage election margin of Joe Biden one year ago evaporated last Tuesday here in Virginia. It was a 12, almost 13-point swing. That means we ought to go to DEFCON 2. Everybody on deck. This is a serious moment for us politically. We are going to recover, but we can’t recover if we can’t continue what led to the successful passage of the infrastructure bill on Friday and what I hope will be the successful passage of the Build Back Better Bill two weeks from now.”
He continued, “Is there a sense of urgency? I don’t think it is there yet. You saw six Democrats vote against the infrastructure bill because they didn’t trust the assurances that were made that moderates were made for the next bill. We can’t have that. Our margins are too thin. We have got to have unity. We have to understand the adage: If we don’t hang together, we most assuredly will hang separately.”
Connolly added, “We cannot continue to lose counties and cities in rural parts of America, and certainly here in Virginia. You know, 85-15, or even in one case, 90-10. Those are catastrophic percentages. We have to be more competitive. It doesn’t mean we are going to win rural America any time soon, but we certainly can’t lose it with the margins we lost it. I think that’s how we lost the election. It was a narrow win by a Republican. When you look at what we did just a year ago, it is a huge swing, one that if it is replicated nationwide, I think would spell enormous trouble for us in the midterms. That’s why I say we have got to go to DEFCON 2.”
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