Biden on Democrats' loss in Virginia: 'We all have an obligation to accept the legitimacy of these elections'

President Biden spoke Wednesday afternoon regarding the COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, but questions of course turned to other matters, including the news of the day — Republican Glenn Youngkin's defeat of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor's race, a highly-watched outcome that's been positioned as a bellweather for the national political attitude and a sign of (mis)fortune to come.
"We all have an obligation to accept the legitimacy of these elections," Biden said when asked about Democrats' upsetting loss in a state Biden had previously won. "I was talking to Terry to congratulate him today — he got 600,000 more votes than any Democrat ever has gotten."
"What I do know is," Biden added, "people want us to get things done," which he is why the president says he's working hard for the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure framework and his Build Back Better agenda. "People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things," he went on, and if his and the party's initiatives are passed, a lot of those things will be "ameliorated quickly and swiftly."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That said, however, the president is "not sure" it would have made a difference in Virginia if his agenda had been passed before Election Day on Tuesday, considering the number of "very conservative folks who turned out in red districts who were Trump voters, but maybe, maybe."
The president may have won the state by 10 points in 2020, but "I was running against [former President] Donald Trump," he said.
Watch more below:
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
June 28 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include stupid wars, a critical media, and mask standards
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Some mainstream Democrats struggle with Zohran Mamdani's surprise win
TALKING POINT To embrace or not embrace? A party in transition grapples with a rising star ready to buck political norms and energize a new generation.
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary