Youngkin beats McAuliffe, clinching first statewide win in Virginia for Republicans since 2009

By Andrew Trunsky

Glenn Youngkin will be Virginia’s next governor after narrowly beating former Gov. Terry McAuliffe Tuesday night, making him the first Republican to win statewide in over a decade and ending Democrats’ total control over the legislative process held for nearly two years.

Youngkin led by just over two points when the Associated Press called the race early Wednesday, buoyed by record turnout in rural areas and an energized Republican base. He trailed McAuliffe in nearly every poll up until the final days of the race, when late momentum gave him the slimmest of leads in a state that President Joe Biden won by over 10 points just a year ago.

Glenn Youngkin

Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin led by just over two points when the race was called, buoyed by record turnout in rural areas and an energized Republican base.

In addition to Youngkin, Republican Winsome Sears won the state’s race to be lieutenant governor, while Jason Miyares, also a Republican, led in the state’s attorney general race, respectively. Republicans also appear to have flipped six seats in the Virginia State House, a margin that, if it holds, would turn Democrats’ 10-seat majority into a 51-49 GOP majority.

“Together we will change the trajectory of this Commonwealth,” Youngkin said in a speech early Wednesday. “We’re going to restore excellence in our schools.”

While Virginia’s economic recovery and the coronavirus vaccine were the dominating issues for much of the race, education became central as the contest became more nationalized and McAuliffe’s lead began to erode.

“Folks, not everything is counted and we’re still waiting for a lot of votes to come in,” McAuliffe said in a statement Tuesday night thanking his supporters. “And we want to ensure every Virginians’ voice is heard.”

Education leapt to the forefront of both campaigns after McAuliffe said that he did not “think that parents should be telling schools what they should teach” during a September debate, referring to two bills he vetoed while governor that would have allowed parents to prevent their kids from engaging with material that they deemed explicit or sexual. Youngkin repeatedly brought up McAuliffe’s remark in the following weeks, even airing ads that accused him of siding against parents when it came to their kids’ educations.

McAuliffe in response accused Youngkin of promoting a “racist dog whistle,” and repeatedly tried to tie him to former President Donald Trump, who twice lost the state and remains deeply unpopular in it. He also campaigned alongside Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama and other high-profile Democrats in a bid to energize his base.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) and transgender rights also moved front-and-center in the race’s final weeks, with increasingly frustrated parents voicing their concerns in front of school boards in some of Virginia’s most populous counties. In Loudoun County, which extends west from Washington, D.C.’s outer suburbs, the school board covered up the alleged sexual assault of a girl by her transgender classmate for months, ultimately leading to the board’s head resigning in October.

“[Virginia] is leading the nation away from heavy-handed government control and putting power back into the hands of the people,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the Daily Caller News Foundation when asked to comment on Youngkin’s win. “Virginians rejected woke polices and chose an optimistic vision for the future.”

Youngkin also pledged to ban the teaching of CRT in Virginia schools on his first day in office. “We are going to embrace our parents, not ignore them,” he added early Wednesday

In addition to Youngkin’s late momentum, concerns over rising inflation, crime and the pandemic have risen nationwide, lowering Democrats’ overall approval given their control of the White House and Congress. They have also struggled to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending package, which together compromise the bulk of his domestic agenda, though they aim to vote on both this week and are hoping to compromise on key provisions.

“Youngkin’s win reflects a race well-run and a suburban electorate that is increasingly frustrated by rising inflation, rising crime, rising political correctness and persistent pandemic mandates,” Bruce Mehlman, a veteran Republican strategist, told the DCNF. “[It reflects] an overall sense that government should do less.”

In New Jersey, the only other state to hold a gubernatorial election this year, incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy trails Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli by less than a point with 76% of the vote reported.

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Image courtesy of Glenn Youngkin

5 thoughts on “Youngkin beats McAuliffe, clinching first statewide win in Virginia for Republicans since 2009

  1. As the worthless do nothing cackling not black first women Veep said.. this election (VA) will set the tone for 2022 – 2024 and beyond…yeeeeehaaawwww (ala the Dean scream)

  2. The Virginia outcome, as well as that in Minneapolis on police reform should send a message to Joe Biden, the Democratic Congressional delegation and Democrats/Progressives around the country to include the New Jersey Governor’s race that its time for some much needed examination of the direction the country is taking and current policies.

    The polls have been sending messages to Biden and other left leaning politicians for months that the American people do not like what is happening in this country and in our cities……With yesterday’s elections, the voters confirmed the polls…….Now let’s see what Joe Biden and the rest of the Democrats who control states, legislatures, mayors offices and city council do.

    The question is have these politicians learned anything? If they haven’t they will pay a higher price in the mid-term elections next November.

  3. There is a lot of icing on this cake as well. McAuliffe is about the last vestige of the Clinton dynasty that has clung to and fouled the shoes of Americans like doggie-doo for way too long. Also Lt. Gov. elect Winsome Sears is a class act for the correct way to address Black-White relations in America. She and her husband served as Marines and she is a solid voice for the Second Amendment. Freedom-minded Americans can hope that both Youngkin and Sears will be dominant political forces both in Virginia and on the National scene into the future, which looks a little less bleak today.

  4. This win is an important FIRST step to END the Socialist-style, Globalist-style rampage perpetrated by SOCIALIST Dem/Progs in Washington, DC, during the past few months.

    Dem/Progs are promoting open borders and government give-aways, for vote buying,

    Dem/Progs are giving HUNDREDS of $BILLIONs to MILLIONS of NEW illiterate, unskilled, sickly, often criminal, illegals, from a multitude of countries, walking across the US border, for vote buying.

    Dem/Progs are maliciously fostering government DEPENDENCY, instead of promoting PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, for vote buying purposes.

    The US people have a Constitutional right to hold such “Legislators” accountable.

    Legislators, such as the Dem/Prog cabal of Pelosi, Schumer, Sanders, at al., are hell-bent to foist a $1.75 TRILLION SOCIALIST-STYLE SHAM onto the US People, regardless of what it does to:

    1) US INFLATION and CONSUMER PRICES, and
    2) The already outrageously high US NATIONAL DEBT, and
    3) The already outrageously high GOVERNMENT DEFICITS
    4) The already outrageously high US TRADE DEFICITS
    5) The viability of US Social Security Trust Fund
    6) The viability of the US Medicare and Medicaid Trust Funds

    Sanders was sneaking in Eye care, Hearing care, and Dental care, and a host government gifting, which would further increase US government deficits and national debt, and burden various Trust Funds.
    All three funds are on a glide path to bankruptcy in a few years.
    Manchin said, it would not be prudent to further increase US national debt and further burden these Funds.

    BTW, that sham would greatly increase Dem/Prog CENTRALIZED COMMAND/CONTROL of the federal government, and, by extension, the SOVEREIGN US PEOPLE, because all of the SHAM bill government programs would be set up and run by career Dem/Progs.

    Remember, the SOVEREIGN states created the federal government, not the other way around.

    The cost of the SHAM bill would be MORE THAN TWO TIMES the $1.75 TRILLION, if all its provisions would be financed the full ten years, says Senator Manchin.

    Manchin has been consistent for MONTHS, saying the $1.75 TRILLION had to be fully paid for with revenues from NEW taxes, and savings from existing government programs.

    However, the Wharton School of Business, the best business school in the US, claims the tax revenues and savings assumed by the SHAM bill writers are $400 BILLION short of the $1.75 TRILLION COST.

    Such chicanery by LEGISLATORS, perpetrated behind closed doors, as part of “the process”, is intolerable, and should be impeachable, as determined by the STILL-FREE, UNCOWED, SOVEREIGN US PEOPLE.

    Senator Manchin calls the $1.75 TRILLION SHAM bill a “shell game” and “smoke and mirrors”.

    Legislators should be held to ACCOUNT, and not be allowed to hide behind MASKS, PR releases, scare-mongering, and SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

    BTW, that also applies to Vermont’s unconstitutional, GWSA sham, perpetrated by Dem/Progs, using “Fighting Global Warming” as a foil, to benefit the politically-well-connected, heavily subsidized, Vermont renewable energy sector, and, by extension, financially screw all other Vermonters FORE DECADES.

    The GWSA sham would have NO, ZERO, NADA EFFECT on the climate
    The GWSA sham is merely “feel-good” and political payoff.

    ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

    Watch the Manchin video regarding the SHAM bill, aka RECONCILIATION bill. See URL

    Manchin states, the cost will be almost DOUBLE the $1.75 TRILLION.
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-manchin-biden-spending-plan-shell-game/

    See URL

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/manchin-trashes-social-spending-package-002625834.html

    Efforts to pressure Manchin to support the massive SOCIALISTIC safety net expansion, aka, the SHAM bill, prompted him to make his two dramatic declarations:

    1) Don’t rush the package
    2) Don’t link it to the separate, BI-PARTISAN infrastructure bill.

    Why it matters:

    Manchin’s surprise press statement Monday, November 1, 2021, didn’t just disrupt the glide path to a vote envisioned by House leaders; it created a major PR nightmare for the White House.

    Manchin said the $1.75 TRILLION SHAM bill was financed by “shell games”
    Manchin believes it will cost closer to $3.9 TRILLION, if all its provisions would be financed for ten years.

    That estimate comes from the Penn Wharton Budget model, which has been helping Manchin sort through how much each program costs. It includes easily digestible tables, showing the costs per year, and over the usual 10-year window.

    The same Wharton experts estimated last week, the revenue increases the Dem/Prog cabal proposes to finance the spending — which the White House put at $1.9 TRILLION — may only generate closer to $1.5 TRILLIION.

    BTW, why is the White House using $1.9 TRILLION, and others are using $1.75 TRILLION. Which is more correct?

    Manchin has been consulting with Penn Wharton experts throughout the process and trusts the model.

    By the numbers:

    The Dem/Prog cabal puts the cost of day-care subsidies and universal-pre-school subsidies at $400 billion
    Wharton estimates the cost at $700 BILLION over 10 years.

    The Dem/Prog cabal wants to spend $200 BILLION to extend the existing child tax credit for one year, but at the ENHANCED $3,600-per-year level, and “make it fully refundable for its duration” (what the hell does that mean?).
    Wharton estimates the cost at $1.8 TRILLION over 10 years.

    The Dem/Prog cabal has been playing games by using different program durations, to make the total spending number appear much smaller than in reality, and thus more “digestible” for wavering Dem/Progs, who are looking for good CYA to get re-elected.

    BTW, after MAGA Virginians vote, en masse, and have a Republican for Governor, on November 2, 2021, no amount of CYA will ever be enough to save the tail-ends of wavering Dem/Progs.

    Between the lines:

    Manchin said he will continue to negotiate over substantive concerns — from climate provisions to total costs.

    “I’m open to supporting a final bill that helps move our country forward,” he said Monday. “But I’m equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country.”

    The big picture

    Manchin and Sinema (D-Ariz.) have been at the center of talks for passing the two massive bills, because they’ve challenged the Dem/Prog cabal over their cost and scope.

    Senate and House progressives have targeted the two senators with slime-ball shenanigans; Sanders writing a scathing OP-ED in West Virginia newspapers, and Dem/Prog weirdo operatives entering a ladies room to harass Simena!!

    The US House Caucus of Progressives, and Pelosi, threatened/blackmailed the US Senate, by saying they wouldn’t vote to pass the infrastructure bill, until after the US Senate passes the SHAM bill.

    The Dem/Prog cabal pressed Manchin over the weekend to publicly declare his support for the SHAM bill, hoping that would convince progressives to vote for the infrastructure bill.

    That approach backfired. “Holding this (infrastructure) bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support,” Manchin told reporters.

    The senator said he was concerned he couldn’t accurately determine the SCOPE AND COST of the SHAM bill, without the final legislative language, which is being withheld, as “part of the process”.

    BTW, Sanders is likely wishing he had never written that OP-ED.

    Manchin said, “As more of the real details of the basic framework for the SHAM bill are released, what I see are shell games — budget gimmicks, that make the real cost of the so-called $1.75 trillion bill estimated to be almost twice that amount … if you extended it permanently,”, i.e., extend all provisions for the full ten years.

    BTW, Simena had similar concerns about how much each program would cost over 10 years.
    She is carrying her own spreadsheets to keep track of the price tag.

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