In numerous statewide races in Virginia, Democrats have managed to win via a strong showing in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern V...
In numerous statewide races in Virginia, Democrats have managed to win via a strong showing in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern Virginia.
On Tuesday, however, Republican Glenn Youngkin ended that by taking down former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Northern Virginia and then rolling up the usual big vote for Republicans in the rest of the Old Dominion State.
With 96% of the results in, Youngkin rolled up a 51% of the vote and Republicans captured the other two statewide offices on the ballot (lieutenant governor and attorney general).
In 2017, former Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie lost the governorship to Democrat Ralph Northam. A key to Northam's win were huge margins in the Northern Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William.
"But this time, Arlington County gave Youngkin 23% compared to Gillespie's 19%," veteran election analyst Jay O'Callaghan told Newsmax. "Fairfax gave Youngkin 35% to Gillespie's 31% and in Prince William, Youngkin got 47%, and Gillespie 38%."
"Glenn had to make inroads in the Northern Virginia counties, or he would have lost," former Republican Gov. and onetime Republican National Chairman Jim Gilmore told Newsmax shortly before the polls closed.
Gilmore voiced his view Youngkin was helped by McAuliffe and the Democrats "getting unhinged" in the final two weeks of the campaign. By that, Gilmore said, "McAuliffe was saying there were too many white teachers in Virginia and suggesting he would cut the percentage of white teachers from 80% to 50% must have made a lot of the teachers nervous."
The former governor added the identification of McAuliffe with the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and what he called "Biden's collapse" helped boost Youngkin to a victory.
"And Glenn had a positive conservative agenda and people like him," Gilmore said. "I was with him for a pre-election rally in Loudoun County where he had 2,000 people, Richmond where he had 5,000, and Virginia Beach with 2,000, and McAuliffe canceled his Virginia Beach rally because no one was going to show up."
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