President Biden on Wednesday admitted that he plans to do “nothing” differently in the second half of his first term to restore Americans’ confidence in the direction of their country, despite the possibility that Republicans reclaim a majority in the House after an otherwise lackluster midterm performance.
Speaking to reporters the day after the midterm elections, Biden was asked what he might do differently to address voters’ concerns about the economy and the widespread sentiment that the country is generally moving in the wrong direction.
Biden replied: “nothing.”
“I’m not going to change anything in any fundamental way,” he added.
While Republicans didn’t fare as well as expected in Tuesday night’s elections, exit polls showed that inflation, the cost of living, and crime, which have all worsened under Democratic leadership, weigh heavily on voters.
During the post-midterm press conference, Biden argued that the impact of much of his early agenda will not be felt by voters for some time, which explains why voters rendered a mixed verdict Tuesday night, leaving control of both the House and Senate up in the air as of Wednesday night.
The GOP underperformed expectations in many swing states, with multiple Trump-endorsed candidates, whose campaigns Democrats artificially boosted in the primaries, losing their races. The Senate and the House still currently hang in the balance, with Republicans expected to narrowly take back the lower chamber in the coming days. Georgia’s Senate race is headed to a run-off election as neither incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock nor Republican candidate Herschel Walker garnered 50 percent of the vote.
“We’ve lost very few seats for certain,” Biden said of the Democrats’ results. “It was a good day for democracy.”
“While the press and pundits were predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen. I felt good during the whole process. While any seat lost is painful, we lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives that any president’s first term in last 40 years,” he added.
Biden assured that even if the Republicans reclaim control of the House, which is still a pending matter as vote tallying continues, he will face a much smaller GOP majority to obstruct his sweeping legislative action than anticipated.
Touting his administration’s alleged accomplishments so far, Biden also signaled that he’s willing to work with Republicans in Congress. “We signed over 210 bipartisan laws,” he said. However, he clarified that there are some dealbreaker GOP proposals he will veto: measures that will raise the cost of pharmaceutical drugs and “make inflation worse,” a national ban on abortion, and Senator Rick Scott’s plan to curtail Medicare and Social Security enhancements.
“I want to thank the young people who I’m told voted in historic numbers,” Biden said, noting their concerns about the climate crisis, gun violence, and student debt relief.
Regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections, Biden said his intention was to run for re-election in 2024. It’s a “sigh of relief,” he said, that the “mega MAGA Republicans are not taking over.”