President Joe Biden claimed Democrats would win in the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday, just a few hours before the polls closed in the commonwealth.
“We’re gonna win,” Biden said, lowering his face into his microphone. “I think we’re going to win in Virginia.”
The president spoke about the race after his climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, before he returns to Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
Biden was asked about the future of the Democrat party, as recent polling in Virginia shows the Republican candidate, Glenn Youngkin, pulling even or even ahead of the Democrat candidate, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
“It’s going to be a tight race. It is tight. It’s coming down to turnout,” Biden said.
A voter fills in her ballot as her child tries to put a snack on a table at a school cafeteria being used as a polling location on election day in McLean, Virginia on November 2, 2021. – With the eyes of America watching, Virginians cast their ballots Tuesday as the state chooses its next governor in a margin-of-error skirmish seen as the first major test of President Joe Biden’s political brand. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
The president disputed the idea that his presidency or his policies were responsible for the results of the Virginia race.
“I’ve not seen any evidence that whether or not I am doing well or poorly, whether or not I’ve got my agenda passed or not, is going to have any real impact on win or lose,” Biden claimed. “Even if we had passed my agenda, I wouldn’t claim we won because Biden’s agenda passed.”
The president said he wanted every eligible voter to appear at the polls for the election.
“Based on what I’ve heard so far … I think, I hope, that every eligible voter in Virginia and New Jersey shows up and votes, and the more of them that do, the better off I think our chances are,” he said. “And I think we’re going to win.”