Battered Democrats emerged from an Election Day thumping divided on Capitol Hill, with liberals pushing for expansive social spending legislation and centrists refusing to provide the votes to move it to President Joe Biden’s desk.

In Virginia, the Republicans swept, flipping the governor’s mansion, the House of Delegates, and winning contests for lieutenant governor and state attorney general. In New Jersey, the GOP nearly picked off the governor and ousted the most powerful Democrat in the state Senate. Democrats in Congress responded by finger-pointing. Liberals blamed centrists for the electoral implosion, arguing voters rejected their milquetoast agenda; centrists claimed voters rebelled against a party that drifted too far left.