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Here's what we're talking about:
- An electoral wipeout in Virginia has Democrats scrambling to deliver on Biden's $3 trillion economic agenda
- Black Peloton employees are questioning the company about low pay
- There is only one Black juror in the trial for Ahmaud Arbery's killing
1. VIRGINIA FALLOUT: Democrats are anxious to get to work. President Joe Biden and other top leaders responded to the party's drubbing in Virginia by renewing efforts to pass trillions of dollars in new spending, hoping that voters will reward them next November. But Democrats don't fully agree on why they struggled so much in Virginia, New Jersey, and parts of New York. And there is still disagreement over the party's massive social-spending plan.
- Key quote: "We got majorities in both houses, so people want us to deliver," Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told Insider, urging his colleagues to pass Biden's economic agenda, which has stalled in two separate pieces of legislation: a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and a roughly $1.75 trillion package of social and climate initiatives.
Here's where things stand:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed swift passage: House Democrats began procedural steps toward passing the social-spending plan last night. Pelosi, who has long vowed to pass only a bill that could make it to Biden's desk, also moved to reinstate a four-week paid-family-leave proposal and a costly and controversial tax break that would overwhelmingly benefit higher-earning Americans.
- Not everyone is on board: Sen. Joe Manchin, a key swing vote, has long expressed skepticism about including paid leave in the social-spending plan. Pelosi's move essentially dares Manchin to block the popular provision, which still might get axed from the final bill.
Democrats even disagree on why they are struggling: "Nobody elected him to be F.D.R. - they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos," Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia told The New York Times of voters' apparent frustration with Biden. His approval rating has dropped nationally and cratered in places like Virginia in recent months.
- Biden himself wasn't convinced that passing his agenda would've stopped the bleeding: "I'm not sure that I would be able to have changed the number of very conservative folks who turned out in the red districts who were Trump voters," the president told reporters. Biden added that voters "want us to get things done," reiterating his call for lawmakers to pass both parts of his economic agenda.
Meanwhile, Republicans are salivating about 2022: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy boldly predicted his party would flip more than 63 seats, the number Republicans reached during the 2010 tea-party wave. Democrats have (at least) five reasons to be worried about the midterms.
2. Gov. Phil Murphy eeks out a reelection victory: Murphy narrowly defeated the Republican Jack Ciattarelli, becoming the first Democratic governor to win reelection in the state since 1977. See the full results here.
The other election stories you should be watching:
- A truck driver may beat the most powerful New Jersey state senator: Sen. Steve Sweeney, who has led the New Jersey Senate for over a decade, continues to trail the Republican Edward Durr, who reportedly spent just $153 on his campaign. More on what would be a massive shake-up.
- Republicans flipped control of Virginia's House of Delegates: Democrats are still not conceding that their narrow majority was toppled amid a terrible night for the party. But Republicans appear to now have a 52-48 advantage.
- Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's hometown voted for a $15-an-hour minimum wage: Tucson voters passed a measure that would gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025.
3. There is only one Black juror in the trial for Ahmaud Arbery's killing: Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley denied a motion to change the racial makeup of the jury in the murder trial of three men over the killing of Arbery in 2020, the Associated Press reports. Walmsley found "there appears to be intentional discrimination in the panel" but ruled the trial should go forward since defense attorneys could cite reasons beyond race for striking eight Black jury candidates. More on the news.
4. Fed plans to start reining in its economic aid this month: After deploying unprecedented economic support for 20 months, the Federal Reserve plans to start putting its tools back in the toolbox. The Fed said in a statement that since the US economy had made "substantial further progress" toward key recovery goals, it would start reversing course and shrinking its asset purchases. Here's what the Fed decision means for its outlook on monitoring inflation.
5. SCOTUS appears ready to expand gun rights: Justices heard arguments about a New York gun-permit law in a major case whose outcome could dramatically expand Second Amendment rights. The conservative members of the court, who hold a 6-3 majority, appeared receptive to the argument that carrying a gun outside the home "is a fundamental constitutional right" that shouldn't require any special reason. More on what justices said about the biggest Second Amendment case at the Supreme Court in over a decade.
6. Republicans mount near-unanimous opposition to voting-rights bill: Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the sole Republican senator who voted to advance to debate on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a major item of voting-rights legislation that would've restored some provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 struck down by the Supreme Court. The measure failed to get the necessary 60 votes needed to open debate under the Senate's filibuster rules. Here's what's next for Democrats in their push for federal voting-rights legislation.
7. Black Peloton employees are questioning the company about low pay: Peloton has been promising pay equity since 2019. Now a group of employees known as "Black@Peloton" has been sharing salaries and raising questions. Four Black current and former employees described personal experiences at Peloton that they said showed a pattern of underpaying certain workers.
8. Legal experts detail how Dominion could take over MyPillow: Dominion filed a $1.3 billion defamation suit against MyPillow and CEO Mike Lindell in February over Lindell's spreading of widely debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The litigation has led to people joking that Dominion will soon own the pillow company. But there are two real ways legal experts say Dominion could end up owning MyPillow if it won in court.
9. Pentagon watchdog finds no misconduct in Kabul drone strike: Lt. Gen. Sami Said, the inspector general of the Air Force, told reporters the strike in Afghanistan's capital was a consequence of "execution errors combined with confirmation bias and communication breakdowns." The August strike killed 10 civilians, including seven children. The full report on the strike, which includes several recommendations on how to avoid similar incidents in the future, is classified. More on why a watchdog found the strike didn't violate the laws of war.
10. Exiled Papa John's founder cannot stop eating the chain's pizza: "Papa John" Schnatter told Bloomberg he had tried somewhere in the realm of 800 pizzas over the past 18 months. He isn't consuming the whole pies but "sampling" them instead - a kind of anecdotal quality assurance that he said was returning lackluster results. More on the former founder's turn against Papa John's.
Today's trivia question: Who was the first sitting president to have his picture taken? Email your answer and a suggested question to me at bgriffiths@insider.com.
- Yesterday's answer: Eight presidents have been born in Virginia, the most of any state. The most recent was Woodrow Wilson.