Republican Glenn Youngkin wins the race for Virginia governor on the backs of ticked off parents. He emphasized hot-button education and cultural issues in victory speech.
Youngkin soundly beat Terry McAuliffe by about two percentage points, winning more than 50-percent of the vote and will succeed Democratic Governor Ralph Northam.
Virginia’s constitution doesn’t allow governors to serve consecutive terms.
Virginia’s next governor, @GlennYoungkin, has taken the stage. #WonWithGlenn pic.twitter.com/FWjXICTNyr
— Noah Jennings (@NoahLJennings) November 3, 2021
McAuliffe’s long slide began after a September debate with Youngkin during which he made the statement: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
McAuliffe’s comment came during a discussion on parents objecting to politicized or explicit books, such as “Beloved” by the late Toni Morrison.
Democrats contend that “white parents” who care about their kids’ education are racist. In the end, facts and issues like education and crime prevention carried the day over allegations of racism.
“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision,” McAuliffe said.
The former Virginia governor defended the comment Sunday, saying, “Everybody clapped when I said it.”
Early on after the polls closed at 7:00 p.m. the most populous Virginia county, Fairfax, announced that they would not be able to release their election results by their own 8:00 deadline because some votes needed to be “rescanned.”
Finally, all the votes were counted and Youngkin wins.