Democrats May Lose, but Their Narrative Is Never to Blame

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe prepares to speak at an election night party in McLean, Va., on Nov. 2, 2021. Steve Helber/AP Photo

Commentary

Election post-mortems used to be pretty simple affairs. The winners would claim a “mandate” to govern, and the losers would mutter to themselves something approximating to the late Dick Tuck’s public pronouncement when he lost a race for the California Senate in 1966: “The people have spoken, the bastards.”