Changes afoot whatever midterms bring

Washington: Joe Biden’s record was on the ballot even if his name wasn’t. And no matter the final bottom line of Tuesday’s midterm elections, his presidency is set for profound changes.

Biden watched from the White House into the early morning hours Wednesday, making congratulatory calls to more than 30 Democratic candidates and huddling with advisers to watch the incoming returns. In public, the president professed optimism to the end, telling Democratic state party officials on election eve that “we’re going to surprise the living devil out of people.”

In private, though, White House aides have been drawing up contingencies should Republicans take control of one, or both, chambers of Congress — a scenario Biden acknowledged would make his life “more difficult.”

Regardless of the outcome, the votes will help reshape the remainder of Biden’s term after an ambitious first two years and will reorder his White House priorities. The president last week appealed for Americans to be patient as votes are counted and to avoid engaging in conspiracy theories, a message he was likely to repeat Wednesday about pending returns.

Biden, in his first two years, pushed through sweeping bills to address the coronavirus pandemic, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, address climate change and boost U.S. competitiveness with China — all with the slimmest of congressional majorities. Now, aides and allies say, his focus will turn to preserve those gains, implementing the massive pieces of legislation — perhaps while under intense GOP oversight — sustaining effective governance in an even more charged environment and shoring up his party’s standing ahead of the next presidential election.

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