Lessons From The California Recall, Looking Ahead to the Virginia Governor's Race and Will The Democrats' Green Agenda Sink The Infrastructure Bill?
Governor Gavin Newsom prevailed in his quest to retain his office last Tuesday in the California recall election, notching a 30-point victory over the Republican-led effort to remove him from office. Pundits are feasting on the lessons from those results: what do they mean for the midterms and beyond? In Virginia, another closely watched election is now underway, as early voting in that state’s gubernatorial contest starts Friday, although the results won’t be known until November. And listeners of a certain age may remember the party game “Twister," where the point is to contort yourself into all sorts of pretzel shapes without falling down. Democrats on Capitol Hill are engaged in a very high stakes version of that game, as they try to keep their caucus together to pass both a reconciliation bill that includes big tax hikes, as well as an infrastructure bill that enjoys more popular support. This week, it was the green energy portion of the bill that required some fancy moves to keep the game going. Will these gyrations lead to success, or will it all comes crashing down? Tom Bevan, RealClearPolitics co-founder and president, Carl Cannon, Washington bureau chief, and Sean Trende, senior elections analyst, join Andrew Walworth to discuss these events and more on today’s RealClearPolitics Takeaway podcast.