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“A closely contested race for governor in Virginia entered its final hours Monday with Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin both hoping for last-minute momentum amid a contest that’s emerging as a referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency.” AP News
As of early Tuesday morning, Youngkin leads by 1.7 percent according to RealClearPolitics and 1.0 percent according to FiveThirtyEight. RealClearPolitics, FiveThirtyEight
Here’s our previous coverage of the race. The Flip Side
The right praises Youngkin’s focus on local issues and criticizes the Democratic Party’s policy agenda.
“Youngkin has shown the GOP that there is a smart way to unite the party in the post-Trump era. He is not anti-Trump; Youngkin accepted the former president’s endorsement, said Trump is part of the reason he decided to run for governor, and made election integrity a key component of his campaign. However, Youngkin is no lackey, opting not to actively campaign with Trump and declining to say the 2016 election was stolen…
“It’s a delicate dance in a state that is split between the heavily blue DC suburbs and the red rural regions, but one Youngkin seems to have pulled off. This is primarily because Youngkin has localized the race. McAuliffe cries “Trump” at every turn and tries to tie Youngkin to the January 6 riots, while Youngkin focuses on education, rising crime and McAuliffe’s plan to raise taxes…
“‘Parents for Youngkin’ signs abound in the front yards of family homes, and Youngkin’s most effective ads have hit McAuliffe for his claim that parents shouldn’t have a say in what their kids are taught in school. This approach challenged the ‘wisdom’ of the Republican establishment, which scoffed when Trump fought culture wars and accused him of distracting from ‘real’ issues. Youngkin has proven that there is electoral merit in unapologetically pushing back on the left’s cultural creep, especially when it is coupled with policies and focused on capturing key suburban voters.”
Amber Athey, Spectator World
“Most of Youngkin’s conversations have been about positive steps to improve Virginia’s economy and the lives of Virginians. Youngkin’s ads have been about policy proposals that stick with voters: getting rid of the grocery tax, suspending Virginia’s recent gas tax hike, and addressing the high cost of living by doubling the standard deduction for state income tax…
“At a time of inflation, the Youngkin plan has practical appeal. It feels personal rather than political. By contrast, McAuliffe’s nationalized campaign seems tone deaf and status quo. Ironically, McAuliffe failed to make Youngkin into Trump, and he succeeded in making his own campaign into Biden.”
Newt Gingrich, Fox News
“McAuliffe brought in Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams to campaign for him… At one rally, McAuliffe repeated the claim that ‘she [Abrams] would be the governor of Georgia today had the governor of Georgia [Republican Brian Kemp] not disenfranchised 1.4 million Georgia voters before the election! That’s what happened to Stacey Abrams. They took the votes away.’ Elias, McAuliffe, and others the media have denounced Republican challenges as advancing ‘the Big Lie’ of stolen or rigged voting in the last election. Yet, Abrams’ defeat is being attributed to a rigged system in Georgia.”
Jonathan Turley, Fox News
“In some ways, Mr. McAuliffe suffers from the same problem as the Democratic moderates in Congress: Democrats have no moderate agenda. What ‘moderates’ offer is just a somewhat cheaper knock-off of the progressive agenda… If Mr. McAuliffe loses on Tuesday, Democrats worried about 2022 will blame everything from Mr. Biden’s sinking approval ratings to the blue suburban revolt against school boards. What they should be asking themselves is if accusations of racism and shouts of ‘Trump!’ are really a winning substitute for a positive Democratic agenda that has appeal beyond the Bernie Sanders’s wing of the party.”
William McGurn, Wall Street Journal
The left urges Democrats to focus on solving tangible problems and criticizes the Republican party’s tactics.
The left urges Democrats to focus on solving tangible problems and criticizes the Republican party’s tactics.
“The results of the Virginia election very much matter to Virginians. But from a national perspective, Virginia has already taught America everything it needs to know — namely, that Democrats in general, and President Joe Biden in particular, are a lot less popular today than they were a year ago. That will hold true regardless of whether Democrat Terry McAuliffe or Republican Glenn Youngkin wins on Tuesday…
“It’s also true, as it [often] is, that the issues that have dominated the campaign (school-board management and curriculum design for Republicans, the Jan. 6 insurrection and Trump’s antics for Democrats) will recede once the election is over. Instead, if he wins Youngkin will try to do what Republicans always do, which is cut taxes. McAuliffe, meanwhile, will try to launch free pre-K for Virginia’s three- and four-year-olds… The national implications of the state’s race for governor are overstated.”
Matthew Yglesias, Bloomberg
“Biden won Virginia by 10 percentage points in 2020. If Youngkin wins by 2 points, Democrats would be 12 points off their 2020 pace. If McAuliffe wins by 2, Democrats would be 8 points off. And while that 2-point McAuliffe victory would be useful in the short term for national Democrats—it would stave off that second, extremely annoying, hair-on-fire narrative from overtaking the news as they’re trying to wrap up their legislative agenda—it would hardly show that the American people are more in love with the Democratic Party than ever…
“Rather than soothe themselves that everything is fine if McAuliffe pulls off a narrow escape Tuesday, or run around like panicking maniacs if a Republican wins the governor’s seat for the first time since 2009, Democrats in Washington should focus on addressing the same problem they had two months ago or one month ago and will still have Wednesday: They’re not liked…
“The Congress they control should pass laws with stuff that people like. Ensure the delta variant is the last major coronavirus wave. Fix supply chains. Make stuff less expensive. Somebody should do something about all of the problems, and it should be them. Otherwise, no matter what happens in Virginia this week, Democrats aren’t going to have a very good 2022.”
Jim Newell, Slate
“Republicans are already claiming the Virginia election has been rigged… [GOP strategist Steve Bannon] warned, ‘They’re Democrats. They’re going to try to steal it’… [Trump] issued a statement saying, ‘I am not a believer in the integrity of Virginia’s elections, lots of bad things went on, and are going on.’ [He] did not cite any specific ‘bad thing’ underway…
“[Amanda Chase, a Republican state senator, claimed that] an unidentified man had showed her ‘exactly how they’re stealing elections in Virginia.’ She maintained, ‘They’re moving, in cyberland, they are switching inactive voters to active voters, all in the same week, it’s undetectable. I know what they’re doing…and now the Youngkin campaign has all that information.’…
“When Virginia attorney general Mark Herring, a Democrat, demanded Chase hand over any material she possessed indicating improbities in the election, a Chase spokesperson told Talking Points Memo, ‘We don’t owe Herring a thing.’… Their line boils down to this: if we win, the election was fair; if we lose, the Democrats cheated.”
David Corn, Mother Jones
A libertarian's take
“It's difficult, if not impossible, for government-run schools to simultaneously accommodate families ready to return to normal life and those who want to continue pandemic-inspired social distancing. It's even more challenging to craft lessons for families insisting on race neutrality in the classroom that will appeal to those who favor an "anti-racist" agenda. Politicians like Youngkin and McAuliffe can either pick sides in these battles and hope that they'll ultimately triumph, or they can offer a way out of endless culture war by letting students escape the battleground…
“School choice offers an exit ramp from school board battles and conflicts among parents by letting funding follow students to the education that families want for their kids. Neighbors with different preferences can peacefully choose options that suit them without any need for disagreement. Increasingly, people seem to understand that fighting over government monopolies is a dead end and that choice is the way to go.”
J.D. Tuccille, Reason
