As if Democrats needed any more convincing Tuesday’s midterm elections carry enormous stakes, U.S. President Joe Biden offered a bluntly dire assessment during a fundraiser last Friday in Chicago.
“If we lose the House and Senate, it’s going to be a horrible two years,” Biden told the small crowd gathered inside a hotel ballroom, where cameras weren’t allowed. “The good news is I’ll have a veto pen.”
After two years of Democratic control of Congress, a change in leadership in the House or Senate – or both – would thrust Biden’s presidency into an entirely new phase. Biden himself has been projecting optimism in the final days of the campaign, but reality is setting in for Democrats their majority rule in Congress could soon end – and Biden’s ability to get his top priorities passed could go with it.