Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi claim that Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the presidential election amounts to a mandate. They both couldn’t be more wrong, and they only have themselves to blame.
To the extent that “mandates” exist, they are reserved for dominant wave elections in which one party controls the presidency and both houses of Congress, such as the 2008 election. Democrats are looking at a narrow House majority and a likely Senate minority to go with Biden’s razor-thin margin of victory in several swing states.
Schumer wouldn’t really know what a mandate is, given that in his time leading Senate Democrats, he has never been entrusted with the majority by voters. Schumer took over his position as minority leader in 2016, with Democrats holding 48 Senate seats. Despite a full blitz of Republican incumbents in 2020 in what should have been a favorable map, that number remains at 48. If Democrats somehow manage to win both Georgia runoff races, Schumer’s “mandate” would be a 50-50 Senate.
Meanwhile, Pelosi actually had a mandate in 2018, as Democrats flipped 41 seats in the House in a “blue wave.” Pelosi then used that mandate to launch a failed impeachment of President Trump that was so unpopular that Democrats didn’t mention it on the campaign trail. Pelosi refused to make a deal on coronavirus relief, which voters recognized, stripping her of any mandate she may have had as she will now lead a very slim House majority.
It is also worth noting that the only “mandate” Biden has in his narrow victory is to not be Trump. Biden’s entire campaign was run on “decency” and returning the office of the presidency to some sense of normalcy. His campaign wasn’t run on some grand environmental plan or on any specific coronavirus policies. The crux of Biden’s message was personality-specific: He’s not Trump.
So, no, Democrats do not have any sort of mandate. Pelosi had hers revoked by voters, and Schumer has never seen one to begin with. If winning an election is what constitutes a mandate, then Mitch McConnell has one too, as do the 250-plus congressional Republicans who will be pushing back on Biden’s agenda. This “mandate” talk is nothing but a PR stunt, as Pelosi and Schumer try to distract from their terrible election showings.
