On Tuesday, November 2nd, Virginia will elect a new Governor to succeed the incumbent Ralph Northam and the choices are Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin. Early polls had McAuliffe leading by a decent margin, leading by 9% at one point, but with less than a month away, Youngkin has gained a surprising amount of momentum and has brought the polls (almost) to a tie, with Emerson College Polling Showing 49% would back McAuliffe and 48% would back Youngkin.
The race has ramped up in the past few weeks with Terry McAuliffe growing desperate to raise more funds, even sending emails to his supporters with a simple question: “Are we blowing this?” President Biden, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and Democrat political consultant James Carville have all chipped in and have urged their own supporters to fund McAuliffe as well. In an effort to boost his standing, McAuliffe has been trying a reach a very strange demographic, Taylor Swift fans. Yes, McAuliffe is hoping to rally Taylor Swift fans to his campaign by tying Glenn Youngkin to the infamous Scooter Braun, who was able to claim ownership of Swift’s master recordings, much to the outrage of her fans.
On the other hand, Youngkin has been on the attack early and often, using his newfound momentum to generate campaign money and as a result, McAuliffe is no longer a sure thing, with political polling sites now classifying the race as a “tossup”. Youngkin’s popularity has grown, especially among independents, as he supports school choice and parent’s decisions in education, while he does not support the teaching of the controversial critical race theory, nor does he support mandating masks and vaccines in public schools.
Speaking of which, the handling of public schools is the biggest issue in Virginia. McAuliffe urges Americans to follow the science and encourages mask wearing and vaccine mandates for public schools, citing that it is to keep the children safe. Also, with critical race theory on the rise and the teaching of 9/11 through racial issues instead of being taught from a battle of ideals standpoint, this has become one of the most controversial issues with parents. McAuliffe certainly didn’t help himself when he said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”, which kind of defeats the purpose of public schools. This quote has haunted McAuliffe since, as Youngkin has used this as a tool to attack McAuliffe and promote his vision of a parent friendly public school system.
Long story short, 2 polar opposites are vying for being the next Governor of Virginia and the race is too close to call. We’ll have an answer after November 2nd, but until then, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds for Virginia.
A parallel can be drawn in Massachusetts, as they have their own gubernatorial election in 2022, with incumbent Governor Charlie Baker running for his 3rd term, whereas McAuliffe is running for his second term (he would serve nonconsecutively if elected, similar to Massachusetts’ John Volpe and Michael Dukakis.) Baker is wildly popular in Massachusetts and challengers on the left are lining up to take their shot at him, there are even some on the right who want him gone, with former President Trump officially endorsing GOP challenger Geoff Diehl. Baker remains unfazed and still looks to be the favorite, but just like Virginia, we’ll just have to wait, but unlike Virginia, we have to wait another year for an answer.
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