Democrats, Stung by Electoral Losses, Press Forward on Biden Agenda

Disappointed by a loss in Virginia and a closer-than-expected race in New Jersey, Democrats were working toward quick action on key bills to show they could govern.

WASHINGTON — Smarting from an off-year electoral rebuke, congressional Democrats pushed forward on Wednesday toward House votes this week on nearly $3 trillion worth of social policy, infrastructure and climate change programs — but with a deep new worry after Tuesday’s stunning losses: Would a legislative victory help or hurt their political standing?

The day after a defeat in Virginia’s governor’s race and a too-close-to-call race in the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey, the party’s representatives in Congress toiled to keep recriminations at a minimum. But centrist and moderate Democrats grumbled that the party’s left flank had held back final passage of what they considered the most popular part of the agenda, a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who campaigned hard for Terry McAuliffe, only to see him lose, said, “What I heard when I was out campaigning for the ticket was, ‘Hey, you guys got the White House, the Senate, the House. When are you going to get more things done?’ I mean only in Washington could people think that it is a smart strategy to take a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure and prevent your president from signing that bill into law. And that’s somehow a good strategy?”