Victory for the “suburban dad”: a bad omen for Joe Biden
It’s a mistake to read too much into any specific election, said Gary Abernathy in The Washington Post. They’re more a “snapshot of the moment” than a reliable guide to the future. That said, last week’s upset in Virginia “should give Democrat party leaders sleepless nights”. The state has long been a Democratic stronghold – Joe Biden won it by ten points in last year’s presidential election – and the party’s candidate, Terry McAuliffe, was expected to win the governor’s race with some ease. Yet in the end it was the Republican, Glenn Youngkin, who sailed through. McAuliffe’s efforts to damage Youngkin by tying him to Donald Trump signally failed. Instead, Youngkin won over voters by embracing some of Trump’s populist ideas but using softer language, and keeping Trump himself at arm’s length. His tactics are sure to be emulated by GOP candidates in next year’s midterms.
Youngkin has answered the unspoken question exercising many of his party colleagues, said Frank Bruni in The New York Times: “Can you have your Trump and eat it, too? Can you kiss up to his voters without visibly kissing his ring?” While accepting Trump’s endorsement, he never appeared in public with him, and projected a mainstream “suburban-dad” image very different from Trump’s. But he also stoked culture wars over education, portraying schools as “re-education camps” pushing race and transgender rights. The Democrats need a response to this line of attack, said Ross Douthat in the same paper. It’s no good just arguing, as McAuliffe did, that critical race theory (a radical critique of institutional white supremacy) isn’t taught in schools. This may be true, but its language has certainly begun to permeate institutions, upsetting some parents. The Democrats’ future may depend “on its leaders separating themselves, to some extent, from academic jargon and progressive zeal”.
As for Republicans, said Philip Klein in National Review (New York), they had better reappraise their own leadership options. Last week’s vote has put paid to the idea that only Trump has the secret to GOP success. Youngkin not only won back suburban voters; he also smashed Trump’s margin in rural Virginia. “As they look ahead to next year’s midterms and beyond, there should be an obvious lesson for Republicans. They will be more competitive if they do not have Trump leading the party.”