Analysis: Glenn Youngkin’s victory comes as the president’s agenda has stalled and danger looms for the party in Congress. Joe Biden exuded confidence. “We’re going to win,” the US president told reporters before departing Cop26 in Glasgow. “I think we’re going to win in Virginia.” But as Biden returns to Washington, he faces questions about why his prediction was so wrong – and whether Democrats’ loss in the most important election of the year will send his presidency into a downward spiral. Republican Glenn Youngkin’s surprise victory over the Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the race for governor of Virginia is a brutal rebuke for Biden, who had personally invested in the race, twice making the short trip from Washington to campaign for McAuliffe at rallies. It will particularly sting because Donald Trump, whom he defeated in Virginia by 10 percentage points in last year’s presidential election, will doubtless seek to claim credit for the result and savor his revenge. But the truth is that this election was more about the current president than the spectre of the last one. Biden’s ambitious agenda has stalled in Congress. By his own admission, the inertia has sucked oxygen away from priorities such as a police reform and voting rights, disillusioning the activists who fuel Democratic turnout. Inflation and gasoline prices are up. Global supply chains are buckling. And Biden’s sunny predictions for post-withdrawal Afghanistan were as off the mark as his predictions for Virginia. The president’s sagging approval rating of 42% combined with historical headwinds to drag McAuliffe down. Nothing energizes a political movement like opposition: the president’s party has lost every election for governor of Virginia over almost half a century – the exception was McAuliffe himself in 2013. But this time McAuliffe failed to inspire. The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential primary campaign had a distinct whiff of Clinton 2016: a career politician imbued with a sense of entitlement who constantly found himself on the defensive against an upstart candidate drawing bigger crowds. Murphy won reelection following a tight race that was widely viewed as a referendum on the Democrat’s leadership throughout the pandemic The governor issued stringent health orders to slow the spread of Covid-19 and has earned high marks from constituents for his leadership during the pandemic. He was one of the first governors who required Covid-19 vaccinations for public school teachers. But his opponent Jack Ciattarelli, like many Republican politicians across the US, has seized on growing backlash and frustrations over mask mandates, school closures and other pandemic restrictions. With his narrow victory, Murphy became the first Democratic governor to win reelection in New Jersey in 44 years. A former executive at Goldman Sachs and ambassador to Germany, Murphy has the advantage of Democrats’ 1.1m registered voters. That the race remained so close well into Wednesday evening is likely to be an encouraging sign for Republicans ahead of the midterms, especially taken with the party’s victory in Virginia’s gubernatorial election. Democrat Phil Murphy wins New Jersey governorship Phil Murphy has won re-election and will be keeping his seat as New Jersey governor. The AP called the race just now. After Senate Republicans filibustered the John R Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Joe Biden issued a statement imploring: “Let there be a debate and let there be a vote.” The bill wasn’t expected to go far in the Senate, where Republicans have made clear they would block it. But Democrats put it forward anyway, as a way to pressure West Virginia moderate Joe Manchin. My colleague Sam Levine explains: There was never any serious prospect of the bill passing – only one Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, supported it. The vote in the Senate was 50-49 in favor of advancing the bill (two-thirds of senators would have had to agree in order for the bill to go forward). But Wednesday’s vote was targeted towards Manchin, who supports the filibuster, showing him that passing voting rights legislation is not possible while the filibuster remains in place. Many Democrats hope it will be the final straw for Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, who is also a staunch defender of the filibuster. Republicans have successfully filibustered voting rights bill three times already this year, including once just two weeks ago. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said Wednesday’s filibuster was a “low, low point in the history of this body”. At least six candidates who won elections yesterday attended the “Stop the steal” rally on 6 January, the AP reports: At least 13 candidates on Tuesday’s ballots for state or local offices were in Washington, D.C., for the rally promoting the lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump, according to a list compiled by BuzzFeed News. None of them have been charged with any crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 riot or accused of entering the Capitol that day. Five of the 13 were running for seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, which Democrats and Republicans are battling to control. Three of the five, including two incumbent legislators, won their races on Tuesday. The House remained up for grabs Wednesday, with a handful of competitive races still too early to call. The list of losing candidates who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally included Oath Keepers member Edward Durfee Jr., who ran for the New Jersey General Assembly. He finished third behind two Democrats. Durfee worked a security detail for the Oath Keepers outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, Gothamist reported, but he isn’t accused of joining other members of the far-right paramilitary group in storming the building. The three rally attendees who won their Virginia House races were incumbents Del. Dave LaRock and Del. John McGuire and Marie March, who won an open seat. The two losers in Virginia were Philip Hamilton and Maureen Brody. BuzzFeed News reported that Hamilton and Brody were at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Elsewhere, “Stop the Steal” attendees winning local races included candidates for seats on the City Council in Nampa, Idaho, the Borough Council in Watchung, New Jersey, and the Board of Commissioners in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, according to published reports. Apparent losers included candidates for county executive in Pennsylvania and for the City Council in Mason, Ohio. Pointed questions suggest US supreme court ready to ease restrictions on guns Adam Gabbatt and agencies report: The supreme court appeared poised to ease gun control regulation, after several justices expressed scepticism on Wednesday over a New York law that places restrictions on who can carry concealed firearms. The case could lead to more guns on the streets of New York and California, and affect restrictions on carrying firearms in airports, bars, churches and schools. The case centers on a New York law that prohibits people from carrying a concealed handgun in public unless they can demonstrate a need to carry the weapon. Several members of the conservative-dominated court, including Samuel Alito and the three justices nominated by Donald Trump, appeared to question whether the law was constitutional. The case, which comes after a spate of mass shootings and a rise in gun violence, has been brought by two private citizens and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association. The NRA is a gun rights lobbying group that has received tens of millions of dollars in donations from the gun manufacturers. The NYSRPA argues that the New York law is too restrictive, and that the two citizens had their applications to carry handguns at all times unfairly denied. Should the court decide in the gun organization’s favor, it could dramatically increase the number of people eligible to carry concealed firearms as they go about their daily lives. Under the New York law, people applying for a license to carry firearms at all times must prove they have a “special or unique danger to their life”. Today so far Hello live blog readers, we’ll hand over to our colleague Maanvi Singh on the US west coast now, who’ll steer you through the next few hours of politics news. It’s been a very lively day with no sign of things letting up, so please stay tuned! Here’s where things stand: The US Federal Reserve has announced it is winding down the massive stimulus programme it put in place at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic amid fears that the central bank may have to raise rates soon to control rising inflation. New Jersey’s governor’s race is close to fruition and, although it has not be called yet, Democrat Phil Murphy has inched ahead of his Republican rival. Democrat Terry McAuliffe formally conceded the race for the governorship of Virginia to his Republican rival Glenn Youngkin, who pulled off a stunning upset last night that is deemed by many an ominous sign for the ultimate success Joe Biden’s administration and presidency. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led Democrats in the House in putting a paid family leave provision back into their $1.75 trillion social and environmental spending bill that’s the flagship of Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislative agenda. Donald Trump this afternoon rejected an accusation he was deliberately trying to avoid being questioned under oath in a defamation lawsuit by a former contestant on TV’s “The Apprentice” who claimed he sexually assaulted her. Reuters reports: In a filing with a New York state court in Manhattan, Trump said a claim he used “delay tactics” to keep his accuser Summer Zervos from deposing him by a court-ordered Dec. 23 deadline “patently absurd, disingenuous, and entirely unfounded.” Lawyers for Zervos did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Zervos has accused Trump of harming her reputation by claiming she lied by accusing him during his 2016 presidential campaign of subjecting her to unwanted kissing and groping in 2007, two years after she was on his reality television show. The lawsuit seeks a retraction or apology, plus compensatory and punitive damages. Trump has denied Zervos’ claims and called her case politically motivated. On Oct. 18, Trump asked for court permission to countersue Zervos for wrongly interfering with his right to speak freely. The former president cited a 2020 New York state law, known as an “anti-SLAPP” law, meant to deter lawsuits designed to harass defendants for speaking out on public issues. Zervos, who sued Trump in January 2017, had said allowing the countersuit would delay Trump’s deposition, adding to delays that have already caused her “significant prejudice.” But Trump said Zervos knew on Sept. 30 of his planned countersuit, “which she has no legitimate basis to oppose,” and is herself “unnecessarily delaying” the case by objecting. The case is unresolved in part because Trump argued while in the White House that a sitting president could not be sued. That became moot after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump became a private citizen. New York’s highest court dismissed Trump’s latest appeal in March. The elections director in Georgia’s most populous county, which has been under intense scrutiny for its handling of elections, will step down at the end of the year, county officials said this afternoon. The Associated Press reports: Fulton County Registration & Elections Director Rick Barron submitted his resignation, effective December 31, Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chair Robb Pitts said during a news conference. The announcement came a day after municipal elections that saw short lines and few problems. But the county, a Democratic stronghold that includes most of the city of Atlanta, has a history of electoral problems and has long been a target of Republicans, who have complained of sloppiness and mismanagement. It became a favorite target of Donald Trump, who blamed unproven allegations of fraud in the county for his narrow loss in Georgia last year. Barron said in his resignation letter: “Under the intense scrutiny of the last year, I believe our team has performed with grace and professionalism. Even in the midst of threats to our personal safety, we have continued to make the interests of Fulton County voters our highest priority.” Pitts and Fulton County Registration and Elections Board Chair Cathy Woolard sang Barron’s praises as they announced his departure. “Mr. Barron was not forced to resign,” Pitts said. “I want to make that crystal clear. It was voluntary.” Pitts said he and Woolard had breakfast with Barron a few days ago and talked about this with “mutual consent and agreement.” Barron’s continued presence would be “a distraction,” not because of any wrongdoing on his part but because of “naysayers” who continue to criticize the county no matter what it does, Pitts said. “That kind of pressure, that kind of scrutiny for that long would wear on anybody,” Pitts said. “You have the former president and his minions, the secretary of state and his minions, daily blasting you.” In addition to a torrent of insults from Trump, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has repeatedly called for a change in leadership for Fulton County elections. After a problem-plagued primary election in June 2020, when some Fulton County voters never received requested absentee ballots and others waited hours in line to vote, an independent monitor was appointed as part of an agreement with the State Election Board. The monitor, Carter Jones, observed the county’s elections operations from October 2020 through January. He reported that he saw “sloppy processes” and “systemic disorganization” but did not witness “any illegality, fraud or intentional malfeasance.” Amid a flood of criticism, the county election board voted in February to fire Barron, only to have its decision rejected by the Board of Commissioners. The Guardian’s Sam Levine reported very recently on the crushing pressure on elections officials in a febrile, partisan and at times dangerous atmosphere. Read his report here. Joe Biden is speaking now on the eligibility of Americans ages five to 11 to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Young children could start receiving the vaccine today. “For parents all over this country, this is a day of relief and celebration,” he said. “After almost 18 months of anxious worrying every time a child had a sniffle or a cough, now you can protect them from this virus.” Biden said that the authorization of the vaccine for young children means that 28m more Americans can receive the vaccine now. He added that the country has enough vaccine supply for every child in the age range to receive the vaccine, which will be specially formulated to accommodate younger children. A report from a justice department watchdog said that the US drone strike that killed 10 civilians in August during the final days of the war in Afghanistan was not caused by misconduct or negligence, according to the Associated Press, which spoke to an anonymous senior defense official familiar with the report. Air force Lt Gen Sami Said, an inspector general of the Air force, authored a report that said that while there were breakdowns in communication during the identification and confirmation of targets during the air strike, there were measures to ensure civilian deaths were prevented. The report notes that the context of the air strike is important as US forces during that time were overwhelmed with information about civilians and troops trying to leave Afghanistan. After last night’s election, Republicans are warning Democrats that they could lose at least 60 seats during the midterm elections next year. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said that Democrats should take the election as a warning “to abandon their extremist agenda.” In response to McCarthy’s prediction, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Sean Maloney said: “I’ll take that bet.” Jacob Frey, mayor of Minneapolis, just won a reelection campaign for his second term even after he came under criticism for his handling of protests after the killing of George Floyd in summer 2020. Frey won the vote within the city’s second round of ranked-choice voting, where Frey received 49% of the votes, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The mayor’s challengers, including former Minnesota legislator Kate Knuth, encouraged voters not to rank Frey on their ballots for not implementing changes to policing in the city after the protests. The mayor has argued that police reform has been happening under his leadership and that he is looking to hold officers accountable rather than support movements to defund the police. “There was this push to defund the police,” Frey told supporters on Tuesday. “That movement has been roundly rejected, all of us now, can stop with the hashtags and the slogans and the simplicity and say, ‘Alright, let’s all unite around things that we all agree on.’” The Guardian’s voting rights reporter Sam Levine has a quick update on the voting rights bill that the Senate is considering right now: Senate Republicans officially have enough votes to filibuster a Democratic voting rights bill that would restore a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act. Democrats hope the filibuster, the fourth time Republicans have deployed the procedure to block voting rights legislation since the beginning of the year, will be the final straw that pushes Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to favor changing the filibuster. A 97-year-old man was reelected as mayor of a New Jersey town last night. Vito Perillo is set to serve his second term as mayor of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, a town south of New York City. “They tell me I’m the oldest mayor in the country,” Perillo told NJ Advance Media“I’m feeling pretty good, and I think everybody in the borough feels good, too. They were all happy for me this morning.” Perillo is a veteran of World War II and has six great-grandchildren. He bested three opponents who were trying to oust him out of office. Perillo told NJ Advance Media that he feels “really good” and that his family physician told him he won’t have to come back for another two years. Here are some pictures of Perillo a few years ago with New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, who is currently in a close reelection race himself. Fed to wind down Covid-19 stimulus programme The US Federal Reserve has announced it is winding down the massive stimulus programme it put in place at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic amid fears that the central bank may have to raise rates soon to control rising inflation. Fed officials have been debating for months over whether and when to taper the stimulus programmes that it set up to head off the economic headwinds caused by the pandemic. They announced on Wednesday that they would begin cutting that stimulus by $15bn a month but left interest rates unchanged. “With progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen,” the Fed wrote in a statement. “The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic have improved in recent months, but the summer’s rise in Covid-19 cases has slowed their recovery. Inflation is elevated, largely reflecting factors that are expected to be transitory.” In March 2020 as the pandemic brought the global economy to a shuddering halt, the Fed moved to prop up the US economy by cutting interest rates to close to zero and started buying $120bn a month in Treasury- and mortgage-backed securities. The initiative appears to have helped the US bounce back from a potential economic catastrophe. The unemployment rate has dropped from a record high of 14.7% in April 2020 to 4.8% in September. But now the central bank is wrestling with concerns that its stimulus efforts, combined with cash injections from Washington, pent-up consumer demand and the unprecedented impact of the pandemic on the global supply chain, are driving up inflation. This is Lauren Aratani taking over for Joanna Walters. Last night was a big night for women in politics, with multiple historic wins around the country for women running for office. In Boston, Michelle Wu became the first woman and person of color elected to be mayor of the city. Elaine O’Neal was elected to be the first Black woman to serve as mayor of Durham, North Carolina. The majority of the members on the New York City council will be women for the first time in the history of the city council, which is the largest in the country. Winsome Sears, a Republican, is projected to be the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Virginia. Many of the candidates acknowledged their historic victories as signs of progress.