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Welcome to the commentary magazine Daily Podcast. Today is Wednesday November 3rd 2021.

I'm John Pauldhord, the editor of commentary with me as always. Executive editor Abe Greenwald.

Hi Abe. Hi John. Senior writer Christine Rosen. Hi Christine. Hi John. And associate editor Noah Rathman. Hi John. Wow. Wow.

This is a wow moment. This is a moment at which the ship of state and American politics

as happens very rarely. This is a we're we're in a different era political era today than we were yesterday.

That just the the size of the Republican the shifts away from Democrats to Republicans in states as

various as Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, a couple of other it's very striking a

stoundingly striking and I think winner lose oddly enough the New Jersey result is by far the most

striking. Chitter-Rally the Republican is probably not going to end up as governor. Any but any way you

slice this the incumbent governor Phil Murphy won four years ago by a margin of 16 points and Biden

Joe Biden won the state by 16 points and this is a jump ball election that is a 16 point shift

not only from the Biden election but from Murphy's first election 16 points go down to Virginia.

We have a shift toward the Republicans of 12 and a half points. I think once once all the

counting is done Glenn Youngkin will win by like two and a half Biden won the state by 10. Ralph

Northam won the state in 2017 by nine. It is staggering. You don't see this. It's one thing to win

closely you know elections in which in which the partisan lean of the state is you know

four points five points one where the other and there's a shift this is something else.

Noah it wasn't about money Democrats were rolling in cash and the Republicans were largely

outspent it wasn't about candidate quality many of these guys are incumbents well known backed

by enthusiastic democratic support it wasn't about Trump his presence or absence in the national

debate was irrelevant it was about the national environment it was a referendum on the first 10

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