Youngkin Defeats McAuliffe, Wins Virginia In Decisive Referendum On The Left’s Culture War

Republican Glenn Youngkin beat Democrat Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday to become the next governor of Virginia. The race is widely seen as a bellwether for far-left Democrat policy priorities, specifically the party’s radical positions on education. Those include COVID school closures, critical race theory, targeting parents who speak out against school boards, and — in Virginia’s Loudoun County — covering up alleged incidents of sexual assault that cast doubt on transgender policies.

Youngkin gave a victory speech to his supporters in Chantilly in the early hours of the morning, promising to “change the trajectory of this commonwealth.” McAuliffe came out around 10:30 p.m. and told his supporters to go home, but did not concede the race.

As of this morning, CNN’s elections results tracker predicts a Youngkin win by 51-48 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting. The RealClearPolitics tracker shows the same margin of victory for Youngkin, with 94 percent of precincts reporting.

At his returns party Tuesday night, Youngkin promised to “restore excellence to our schools” and “embrace our parents, not ignore them,” meeting cheers from the audience. Before he came onstage, the gathering opened with a prayer and a short speech from Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears, who told supporters “What you are looking at is the American Dream. … I am living proof.”

“We just saw one of the probably biggest upsets in the history of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin beating who was an incumbent previously, Terry McAuliffe,” First Vice Chair of the Fairfax County Republican Committee Sean Rastatter told The Federalist in the excited minutes following Youngkin’s victory speech. “This is a bellwether for the rest of the entire country in 2022.”