Body blow for Biden as voters in Virginia and New Jersey desert Democrats

Governor's races bring more bad news for president whose domestic agenda hangs in the balance

Less than a year after taking control of the White House and Congress, Democrats were reeling on Wednesday from a shocking defeat in Virginia and a tight governor's race in New Jersey as Joe Biden's popularity sinks and his domestic agenda hangs in the balance.

In Virginia, a state that had shifted sharply left over the past decade and that Biden won by 10 points in 2020, Republican Glenn Youngkin, a political newcomer, defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the state's former governor. And in New Jersey, the Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, managed only a narrow victory over the Republican Jack Ciattarelli, an unexpected turn of events in a state that is even more reliably Democratic.