GOP’s Youngkin wins Virginia governor race
RICHMOND, VA. » A Republican political newcomer delivered a stunning upset in the Virginia governor’s race.
Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday became the first Republican to win statewide office in a dozen years, tapping into culturewar fights over schools and race, to unite former President Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters with enough suburban voters to notch a victory.
The state was not seen as especially competitive when this year’s campaigns began.
Republicans celebrated their strong showing, with Youngkin telling a cheering crowd of supporters that “this is the spirit of Virginia coming together like never before.” The GOP’s strength extended to down-ballot contests, including the lieutenant governor’s race, which Winsome Sears won, becoming the first woman of color to win Virginia statewide office.
McAuliffe formally conceded in a statement Wednesday morning that congratulated Youngkin.
“Losing is never easy,” he said. “We put ourselves out there and left it all on the field.”
A political neophyte, Youngkin was able to take advantage of apparent apathy among core Democratic voters fatigued by years of elections that were seen as must-wins, as well as growing frustrations with President Joe Biden and the economy. Youngkin successfully portrayed McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor, Democratic National Committee chairman and close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, as part of an elite class of politicians. He also seized on a late-stage stumble by McAuliffe, who during a debate performance suggested parents should have a minimal role in shaping school curriculums.
Perhaps most significantly, Youngkin prevailed in a task that has stumped scores of Republicans before him: attracting Trump’s base while also appealing to suburban voters who were repelled by the former president’s divisive behavior.
Model approach?
During the campaign, Youngkin stated his support for “election integrity,” a nod at Trump’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, while also focusing on education and business-friendly policies. He never campaigned in person with Trump, successfully challenging McAuliffe’s effort to cast him as a clone of the former president.
That approach could provide a model for Republicans competing in future races that feature significant numbers of Democratic or independent voters.
Elsewhere in the country Tuesday, mayoral contests helped shape the leadership of some of the nation’s largest cities:
• Democratic former police captain Eric Adams won in New York.
• Boston voters elected City Councilor Michelle Wu, the city’s first female and Asian American mayor.
• Cincinnati is getting its first Asian American mayor, Aftab Pureval.
Minneapolis voters rejected a ballot initiative that sought to overhaul policing in their city, where George
Floyd was killed by a white police officer on Memorial Day 2020, sparking the largest wave of protests against racial injustice in generations. The initiative would have replaced the police force with a Department of Public Safety charged with undertaking “a comprehensive public-health” approach to policing.
Money flowed in
But no other contest in this off-year election season received the level of national attention and money as the governor’s race in Virginia, a state with broad swaths of college-educated suburban voters who are increasingly influential in swaying control of Congress and the White House.
A former co-CEO at the Carlyle Group and former reserve forward on Rice University’s basketball team, Youngkin poured vast amounts of his personal fortune into a campaign that spent more than $59 million. Favoring fleece vests, Youngkin sought to cut the image of a genial suburban dad.
Youngkin ran confidently on a conservative platform. He opposed a major cleanenergy mandate the state passed two years ago, and objected to abortion in most circumstances.
He also opposed mask and vaccine mandates, promised to expand Virginia’s limited charter schools, and ban critical race theory, an academic framework that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people. In recent months, it has become a catch-all political buzzword for any teaching in schools about race and American history.