Virginia governor race offers tea leaves for Biden, Trump and 2022

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“It’s about bringing people together,” Youngkin said in an interview here on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, as the sun set after a full day of campaigning, “contrary to this idea of ​​walking the line.”

But make no mistake: He faces a cautious balancing act, the outcome of which could offer a window into how Republicans can run their campaigns without Trump on the ballot in a midterm election year that shows history also shows many barriers for the party that controls the White house.

Youngkin, 54, a former executive equity executive seeking political office for the first time, is locked in a closer-than-expected career against Terry McAuliffe, 64, a former Democratic Party leader seeking a second act as governor of Virginia.

McAuliffe is sounding the alarm, fearing that Congress’s noisy collapse in infrastructure and the party’s broader economic agenda could pay for turmoil for him and his fellow Democrats in the coming year.

“We control the House, the Senate and the White House,” McAuliffe said in an interview. “We need this infrastructure. I can tell you as a former governor, it’s absolutely critical for our bridges and roads, so let’s end this and stop talking.”

The November contest will help answer whether the Commonwealth is still capable of delivering a statewide victory for a Republican candidate or whether it has become solid blue land as indicated by the last four presidential elections.

“The Republican Party has figured out something in the last 12 years – that’s how to lose,” Youngkin said. “We have to win.”

The Trump factor

Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states in the country to hold gubernatorial elections a year after a presidential campaign. The races can provide an early glimpse into the plight of the electorate, specifically for the President’s party.

Defectiveness and split on display within the Democratic Party, along with falling Biden’s approval ratings in the summer months, has raised the optimism of Republicans in Virginia higher than many U.S. officials. party previously expected.

A major wildcard in the career is Trump and the degree to which he can be used to burn down his Republican base or to merge a Democrat.

“Donald Trump wants to use this election to start his return to this country,” said McAuliffe, who called Trump’s name as much as any Republican, who seeks to paint his rival as a clone of the former President.

Yet it is an open question how successful have been the attempts to enter Trump into the race.

For his part, Youngkin rarely mentions Trump’s name. He said he seeks to form a coalition of “forever Trumpers, Never Trumpers, single issue voters, libertarians, Tea Party folks,” along with Democrats and independents who have failed the party’s left shift and the ability to lead.

He’s testing how big the Republican Party’s tent is, but his approach raises questions from Trump, who told a Richmond radio station last week, “The only men who win are the ones who embrace MAGA movement. “

Asked about the former President’s comments in an interview here, Youngkin dismissed any sensitivity or concern.

“He knew exactly where I stood,” Youngkin said. “I’m a candidate in Virginia. I’m first on the ballot. Glenn Youngkin is running in Virginia.”

Covid politics

However, Youngkin’s positions are subject to scrutiny, along with his belief that vaccinations should be needed for measles, mumps and rubella, but not for Covid-19. He struggled to explain his reasoning during a debate on Tuesday, but insisted during an interview with CNN on Wednesday that science, not politics, drives his views.

“There’s nothing political for me,” Youngkin said, trying to steer the question away from mandates for teachers and children’s health workers. “Should it be mandated for young children? I think we should just step back and the best way to do that is to encourage everyone to get the vaccine.”

Pressed again about his opposition to mandates for the Covid-19 vaccine, which multiple polls show supported by a solid majority of Virginia voters and top business groups, Youngkin did not elaborate before firing him. aide for the next stop of the campaign.

But in his remarks at an event for Republican candidates on a farm here, Youngkin featured his opposition to mandatory vaccinations as a major difference to his Democratic opponent.

“Terry McAuliffe wants people who don’t get the vaccine to lose their jobs. He wants them fired,” Youngkin said, who continued to call it an example of government over-reaching.

For his part, McAuliffe said his rival’s opposition to vaccine mandates disqualifies him.

“I think this is probably the most defining issue,” said McAuliffe, who from 2014 to 2018 led Virginia, the only state in the country not to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms.

‘A big race for the country’

In the last month of the campaign, both candidates sought to portray the other too strongly for primary voters. They quarrel about their respective ideas to lift the economy, along with quarrels about the Second Amendment and the integrity of the election.

Early voting is already underway, the first time offered for a governor’s race, with officials in both parties saying the number could increase from the 2.6 million people who voted in the 2017 governor’s race. the turnout to the 4.5 million people who participated in the 2020 presidential race in Virginia, where Biden defeated Trump by 10 percentage points.

“The votes are there,” McAuliffe said. “We just need to alert everyone that there are high consequences if you don’t vote.”

The last month of the race has been filled with at least some degree of uncertainty, especially with the legislative gridlock in Washington that McAuliffe is increasingly speaking out against, seeking to distance himself from contention and inaction.

“It’s a big career for the country,” McAuliffe said. “It could send a signal that the Democrats, who are entering ’22, may have an air behind them.”

As for Youngkin, he seeks to capitalize voter dissatisfaction with Democratic policies, taxes and spending, but is more focused on McAuliffe. He said the race should be about Virginia – an implicit effort to prevent the race from becoming a referendum on the national Republican Party.

In many campaign stops, the former president Youngkin regularly brings is not Trump or Biden, but Bill Clinton.

“If Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton had a son, it would be Terry McAuliffe!” Youngkin said it would boost applause here from a majority of Republicans about Clinton’s longtime ally. “He’s a swamp creature.”

This is a partisan punchline that needs little explanation in this state just across the Potomac River from Washington.

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