AMAC Exclusive by Daniel Roman
The Virginia Governor’s race between Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe has captured the attention of both the media and anyone invested in following American politics. There is little doubt that Youngkin’s campaign has surged: it has pulled dead even with the former Democratic governor in many public polls. Meanwhile, the House of Delegates is in play as well, with control now seen as a tossup. The entire ticket has evidently been lifted by the same dynamics that have powered Youngkin’s rise.
The task for Youngkin, and for the Commonwealth’s Republicans, is now to “close the deal”—and to do so, they will need to use the next week not only to mobilize swing voters in Northern Virginia, but also on a perhaps unexpected task: turning out the Trump base on the other side of the state.
Here it is useful to remember the unique way the national political press treats the Commonwealth of Virginia. Many DC-based pundits, strategists, and staffers live in Northern Virginia, and covering happenings in Loudoun County is a nice break from reporting from motel rooms in Des Moines. This is one reason that events in places such as Loudoun take on outsized importance nationally. Yet we must ask whether this phenomenon may have led to both Democratic and Republican gubernatorial campaigns almost exclusively focused on Northern Virginia issues. Indeed, almost all the narrative of the campaign, the major conflicts, and the events seem to focus on Northern Virginia, which has become Ground Zero for the national fight over education policy.
This is not to say that these issues are not important, or that Northern Virginia is not a critical battleground in the race. But while Northern Virginia’s population has exploded over the last three decades, along with its weight in Virginia politics, there are still other parts of the state that matter. Indeed, the two groups that formed the heart of Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s primary coalitions, rural Virginians in southwestern coal country, and African Americans on the southside of Richmond, have been almost entirely ignored in the national media’s coverage of this campaign. And evidence is that these groups have, in turn ignored, the gubernatorial campaign itself.
As of October 19th, 480,000 ballots had been cast early, with another 178,000 requested by mail. Of those, a mere 38,000 were cast in the 9th Congressional district in Southwest Virginia, which went for Donald Trump by a margin of 70%-28% in 2020. And only 48,000 have been cast or requested in the heavily African American 3rd Congressional District, which Biden carried 67%-31%.
Against all of the current narrative of the campaign, these numbers imply that over the next week, this very close gubernatorial race may not in fact be decided by voters in Northern Virginia, but instead by how well Youngkin and McAuliffe do at turning out Southwestern blue-collar whites and Richmond-area African Americans, respectively, for the next seven days.
As referenced above, it is quite clear that both Youngkin and McAuliffe have run Northern Virginia-based campaigns focused heavily on the concerns of suburban voters, many of them parents with children. Youngkin has used worries over taxes, Democratic efforts to defund the police, and radical efforts to overhaul the education system since Democrats took full control of the state government in late 2019 to undermine Democratic support in those areas. In response, McAuliffe has tried to make the election about Donald Trump, abortion, COVID, and more or less anything but what is actually happening in Virginia or the man he is running against. At times, Virginia voters could be forgiven for thinking that McAuliffe is running against Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, or the Texas legislature (even using the slogan “Don’t Texas our Virginia”). McAuliffe has also been suggesting that Youngkin will imitate Florida’s Ron DeSantis in preventing local governments from requiring masks and vaccine mandates over parental objections.
That McAuliffe is running against Donald Trump and not Glenn Youngkin, and on issues in Texas and Florida rather than Virginia, indicates he feels he will lose on a straight up comparison with Youngkin on Virginia issues. And indeed, the evidence—including Joe Biden’s collapsing approval numbers and overwhelming signs of parental anger—suggests that McAuliffe is probably correct that he would lose a Virginia-focused race.
Yet one of the problems with McAuliffe’s approach is reflected in his Richmond-area numbers with African Americans. As McAuliffe’s campaign has focused on a largely ideological appeal to Northern Virginia progressives, it has struggled to turn out those (such as African Americans) who are less enamored with the progressive agenda and worldview. McAuliffe’s campaign has approached this challenge as a logistical problem—inviting Stacey Abrams to the state to spread conspiracy theories about her own electoral defeat in 2018; playing a video in black churches of Vice President Kamala Harris urging parishioners to vote (likely an illegal appeal); and, most significantly, calling in Barack Obama. Will it work? Well, McAuliffe does not need 2008 or 2020 turnout to win. What likely matters is if this strategy succeeds in getting more Democrats to the polls.
As McAuliffe races to address his shortcomings with the black voters that his campaign has neglected, Youngkin’s fate may be decided by his success in mobilizing a group of similarly neglected voters. While many have argued that Youngkin has failed to distance himself enough from former President Trump and will pay for that choice on Election Day, in fact the evidence suggests the opposite may be true. If anything, Youngkin needs to ensure he is doing everything possible to turn out the Trump base in Southwestern Virginia.
The idea that Youngkin needed to run away from Trump has always been a bit of a fallacy. No matter what Youngkin did, the type of voters who vote on anti-Trump messaging were going to go against him. Such voters already believe that any Republican who does not explicitly accuse the party in general (and the former President in particular) of being a “threat to democracy” is themselves a danger to national security. The same is true of the abortion issue. Nothing short of threatening to veto any abortion restrictions and calling abortion a fundamental right, as Charlie Baker in Massachusetts and Phil Scott in Vermont have done, would ever suffice for a certain set of Northern Virginia Democrats who actually vote on those issues.
Despite McAuliffe’s best efforts, Youngkin shows signs of having cleared the threshold of acceptability with many Northern Virginia voters. Now, to close the deal, he needs to motivate the disengaged voters in Trump country—the Southwestern part of the state that is not historically deep-red Republican, but nonetheless voted big for Donald Trump. Before 2010, the 9th Congressional district had been in the hands of Democrat Rick Boucher. Gore received 42% in 2000, Kerry 39% in 2004, and Obama 40% in 2008 and 37% in 2012. The collapse to Clinton’s 27% and Biden’s 28% is recent and a personal consequence of Trump’s appeal to the working-class voters in this part of the state.
With Youngkin’s campaign focused on not turning off swing voters in the areas around D.C. and the Richmond suburbs, many of these voters in rural Virginia could be forgiven for thinking there is no election going on. In many cases, the issues discussed have little to do with them. They do not hear much from the candidates. It is hardly surprising that they are turning out at less than 60% of the rate of the state at large.
If, a week from today, Youngkin comes up just short, the chances are that it will not be because he failed to make a breakthrough on crime or education in Northern Virginia, but because his campaign did not take advantage of the opportunity over this next week to turn out Trump country in Southwest Virginia, just like a panicking McAuliffe campaign is desperately trying to turn out Richmond-area African Americans. In this scenario, McAuliffe’s anti-Trump campaign will have worked not by persuading Virginia voters that Youngkin is Trump in miniature, but by scaring Youngkin and the GOP into running an overly defensive campaign that prevented Republicans from appealing to the voters who should have been their most reliable base of support.
The good news is that Youngkin still has time to close the deal. McAuliffe’s attacks have clearly failed to destroy him, he shows signs in polls of having broken through with the mythical “Northern Virginia woman,” his opponent’s campaign is floundering, the Democratic President is deeply unpopular, the economy and foreign affairs are not going well, and the media is declaring the party “in disarray.”
Everything is in place to allow a Republican to capture the Governor’s mansion in a commonwealth where they haven’t won statewide office in over a decade. All Youngkin has left to do is to get Trump’s supporters to show up and carry him across the finish line. The good news is it’s a task that should be much easier than winning a few more wavering marginal voters in the deep-blue Northern Virginia. In fact, it should be eminently doable for Youngkin, with the right attention and focus. He has to go there and make the case that McAuliffe, like Biden, has handed control of his agenda to the extreme left—while reminding them that the new Democratic Party not only wants to teach their children crazy things, but also to kill their coal jobs, raise their gas prices and energy bills, eliminate private gun ownership, and micromanage every aspect of their lives.
This is a not a time for Youngkin to settle back and think he can coast to victory without offending anyone. He has to run all the way through the finish line, making an argument that the voters he needs now will actually respond to. We will find out one week from today whether Youngkin can do it.
Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics
Lets be honest here. I would venture to say that 99.9 percent of the voters in Virginia have largely decided who they will vote for at this point. Whether we want to acknowledge that truth, that is still the actual truth. There is NO vast pool of undecided voters waiting breathlessly at this point for either candidate to say some magic, last minute phrase or plea that will seal the deal and get their vote. That some authors always choose to write a article similar to this one, that continues that fiction of the vast, up for grabs, last minute voters, does a general disservice to readers. Instead the author should be have canvassed some voters from the areas of the state he feels is still up for grabs to get an actual feel for what voters there are thinking and why they are leaning one way or another at this late stage. Some local reporters still do this type of genuine, last minute work to inform the public why the voters are tilting one way or another at this stage. My sense from looking at the description of the author at the end of the article is that he likely never left his office to write this piece.
Unless someone has been living in a cave or has been in a coma for the last year, they have been deluged with endless TV campaign ads and campaign mailers arriving daily. Where each candidate stands on the issues has been pounded home no-stop. So if anyone is still undecided at this point, then frankly they are either brain damaged (a real possibility) or too stupid to grasp what either candidate is saying (sadly also a real possibility). Thus we’re looking at best at 0.1 percent of the voters up for grabs. If the race is actually that narrow, then the Republican party in the state had better have signed up enough poll observers to stand watch 24×7 over every single polling place and ballot counting room in the state.
This article is on target. The Youngkin campaign may have wrongly assumed that nationalist conservatives would naturally vote for him. It’s true that they won’t vote for McAuliffe, but they might stay home if there is no compelling reason given to vote for Youngkin. IMO, this is a base-turnout race.
This article states that this election is basically up for grabs . I hope that the vote count is watched under wide eyes. I usually know who I will vote for, way before an election. I can’t comprehend why people would vote for Biden policies . This would be a huge win for conservatives if Youngkin can pull this off. I hope this to hear good news in the near future .
The lessons of the last five years of elections are still not sinking in for politicians or the media. Trump did one thing right. He found a way to connect with the lost citizens who are often overlooked or dismissed. Trump won because he voiced the frustration and anger of the ignored.
But here we are, five years past that lesson and candidates still run to appeal to the media. Be in the right places, talk about the issues the media is writing about – agree or disagree – but those issues. The plight of the coal country in western Virginia, the opioid victims, the family farm hanging by a thread, the violence of urban neighborhoods, gangs and murder. All ignored.
Youngkin needs to reach out and speak to them as well because you know McAuliff will do what progressives everywhere have done for 50 years – ignore them.
McAuliffe will magically win by 3% when democrats uncover a treasure trove of misplaced mail-in ballots just before the polls close.
The 800lb gorilla is whether the election will be honest, and with Democrats working around the clock to insure it is not honest I will be very surprised if McAuliffe loses. Happy and surprised. Our entire nation is threatened more from lack of election integrity than any other issue. As bad as inflation has become, as bad as foreign threats are today, as horrid as the illegal invasion at our border is, as bad as federal spending and waste is, and as mentally incompetent as Biden is, dishonest elections seal the destruction of democracy in general. Our elections are becoming more dishonest every year and the Democrats demand it.
What McAuliffe wants, is a bunch of big Government suck-ups and what 46% of Virginian’s want is to be suck-ups to big Government, therein lies the problem, don’t be woke Virginian’s wake up and make Virginia great again.
God Save America!
The Leftists WILL COMMIT FRAUD. That’s why it’s important to get out and vote. If we can ever get honest elections back, it’s easier to prove massive fraud over a little fraud. Think of it this way VA voters, would your enemy be happier if you voted or stayed home?
Youngkin needs to look at the California recall electIon results. Energy was extremely high for YES on Recall — UNTIL— Dem smear campaign against Republicans in general claiming it was a “Republican effort’s to overturn ‘the good policies’ of Gruesome. And Then Gruesome spent over $50 mil, brought in Kamel Toe, O’Bummer, Byedim, etc.
To top that off Idiot California Rino Republicans Refused to back any candidate or even campaign to help the YES on Recall team. Where were McCarthy, Nunes, Ric Grenell, etc? Nowhere to be found. No help at all They felt Trump would be a “liability.”
In the end, conservatives, independents, disgruntled Dems, — almost all Trump supporters didn’t vote because of election integrity issues. Shot themselves in the foot and gave even MORE power to He who thinks he’s king – Gruesome Newsom. Now we are paying an even higher price for that.
Youngkin needs to dump stupid re0ublicans and run for the PATRIOTIC PEOPLE! OR HE WILL SUFFER SAME FATE AS CALIFORNIA!
The one thing the ball-less and weak GOP has needed for decades is candidates and politicians with an iota of courage. Yes, this is completely doable. In fact, it is a simple win. All it takes is the courage to stand up and NAME the ISSUES. Youngkin had better be a shoo-in. Otherwise, he needs to go home and not return to politics.
Why would Patriots in Virginia vote for a NEW YORK born progressive rather than a home-grown Virginian who is for the PEOPLE?
Identifying what can wake up Virginians outside of the cities requires knowing them and asking them. I suspect the democrats plan to continue to count on the larger numbers of city dwellers.
I hope AMAC knows where Americans who care live and can help Youngkin.
In past elections, I have wondered, pondered and questioned how an incumbant, whose record is spotty, blemished, tainted, even bordered on illegal, and whose actions follow the same pattern in office, how does this individual get re-elected, let alone elected in the first place…..example….
Clinton…..even after being impeached, committing adulterous acts, etc, gets reelected. Obama…with his wanton apologies internationally and the many political twists and turns that are still playing out in the current administration…gets re-elected. Take this down to the congress and look at the many long term senators and reps. who, in spite of their checkered pasts, sleazy operations and pork belly methods, get elected, again and again and again. So I ask why? And the only answer I can come up with is the people electing them are either stupid, or blind or both. Now Virginia faces its own kind of re-run possiblities and have a seriously flawed governor get re-elected in spite of his terrible record, and leftist policies. Do the people of Virgina have any idea? Does the opposing candidate present himslef in every venue , community, city, county, household as the better choice? It still remains hard to fathom, in the end, should the incumbent be re-elected, just what the people of Virginia expect as a result. Someone help me understand…….or am I the stupid one?
It is so important for those Conservative voters in the No Va area to get out and vote. We can’t sit back and think our vote doesn’t count because No Va usual goes Democratic but we need to get out and vote so that is no longer true. Let turn No Va Republican and keep it that way.
Let me enlighten you about DIRTY Dem government; State of CA is a DEMOCRAT DICTATORSHIP!!!!!!!!, the Golden State is dictated by D Alesandro / Pelosi Dynasty and the Jerry Brown Clan located in Sacramento and San Francisco ! NEWSOME (extended family in law member) is a figure head in name only Politician
EVERY Piece of wood, every can of paint, every mattress and even a fee for purchasing grocery bags. Too too many taxes SHOULD BE NAMED THE GOLDEN TAX STATE $$$$$ is revenue for the DEMS. A HUGE PORTION OF TAXES is being used to build the 7 THATS CORRECT SEVEN BILLION $$$$$$ SILVER BULLET TRAIN! IT WILL ONLY CONNECT SACRAMENTO TO SAN FRAN !!!!!!!.. PERFECT EXAMPLE OF DIRTY DEM LEADERSHIP !!!!!. AND NARCISSISM
AND SELF SERVING GOVERNANCE MANY People businesses are ..relocating Many Hollywood films being done in New Mexico and other states
MORAL OF STORY DO NOT VOTE FOR SOCIALIST LED DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS AND KILL THE QUESTIONABLE ?????? TRILLION DOLLAR. BILLS ALL AMERICANS NEED TO BE AWARE!!!!! SAVE AMERICA NOW!!!
PS MR SOROS DONATED $$$$ ONE MILLION TO NEWSOME RECALL TO KEEP HIM IN OFFICE!!!!
Not being a Virginia citizen, I just wonder why they don’t wake up to the fact that the DemocRats are fouling up their social, political, income stability, and law protection (and that ain’t all). It is a very disturbing feeling realizing that Virginia (or the Virginia voting system) and the news media allow the great state of Virginia to slide in to the gutter with political representation by the like of “Hillary Honey” McAuliffe.
I’m not from Virginia…but I have prayed that Youngkin wins…this win is for all of us…and it’s time to give non-politicians a chance…Republicans and Democrats fight like children… it’s time to clean out the corruption…GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Young king wins if his campaign ads continually expose what a liar and corrupt person mccauliffe is.
Use his own harmful and anti American rhetoric, in detail explain and have video if his attack on Parents rights for their children.
Typical dishonest,elite, lying Democrat.
THROW HIM OUT
Virginia deserves WAY better.
Why no big name Republicans went to the state to help Youngkin, seems as if the Dem’s use all their “big names” to help McAuliffe’s campaign!
Turd MacAwful can never be allowed back into the Governor’s Mansion in VA. The VA GOP cannot ignore the good people in SWVA while they try to win over more NOVA voters, many of whom are employed by the DC bureaucracy. Youngkin has a good chance but beware of VA GOP ineptitude (see allowing F. Chuck Todd to moderate Gubernatorial Debate) and the Election Night close race /stop the counting until 4:00 a.m. ballot drops.
Terry Mac said parents don’t have a say in what their kids learn in school. That is just plain WRONG. Virginia needs to vote YOUNGKIN.
Why would any normal person want the crazy Democrat in there as governor.
Virginia is my home state however I now live in Florida a wonderful RED state with an excellent Governor. The BLUE state of Virginia is an awful place to live in the swamp. God bless the people who live there.
If we have learned anything at all from past elections, and in particular th 2020 election, is that you cannot trust or rely on polls. Especially polls in predominately Black areas. It is undoubtably where the majority of the fraud is committed! Democrats stealing votes or surpressing thier votes has, in reality, been a tactic of theirs for approximately 150 years!
After watching the news leading up to the “ Governor Recall” in California. Watch for the mail in ballots, the left will not pass at the chance to loose this race. It has to end, fraudulently win at any cost. There is no penalty for corruption, or after hours ballot harvesting.
It has always been my belief that in order to win an election, it isn’t enough to state that your opponent is a poor choice . You have to give voters a reason to vote FOR you and not just against your opponent. Hopefully Youngkin has done this well enough to win.
I think Trump could help by campaigning for him particularly in the southern part of the state.
It seems like Youngkin is poised to beat McAuliffe…BUT the closer Youngkin gets to beating McAuliffe, that’s when the Left’s cheating will kick in. Don’t lose sight of that, and don’t be surprised if McAuliffe “magically” defeats the honest conservative candidate.
If Virginia has an honest election, Youngkin can win.
Get rid of the car tax-ever time you buy a car in Virginia, you pay a tax. This is expected.
What is not expected is when you have to fork over hundreds-even thousands of dollars every October for the “privilege” of owning that car!! If he wants to win-tell people no more car tax!!
I just have one question: Does Virginia use Dominion voting machines and/or allow mail-in voting? If so, all this controversy is moot.
Come ON, Virginia! Return your state to it’s strong, Conservative founding and Patriotism. You have suffered much under Democrat “Leadership”, and it’s time to be FREE again!
There they were ,Terry McAuliffe and Joe Biden , at a rally in Arlington last night mingling maskless with the crowd. If the Youngkin campaign doesn’t produce a montage ad of all the times the hypocritical McAuliffe and Biden have done this, they’re crazy. Per usual for those on the Left, it’s do as I say, not as I do.
If youngkin is to win every country in va has to report after loudoun and fairfax and Richmond.
Otherwise votes will “suddenly be found in just enough quantities for the female to win.
I would love to see youngkin win.
If the polls are correct, looks like Va. will be led by Youngkin. Sure hope so!
None of this matters as the fix is in, again. McAuliffe isn’t worried which is why he is saying such horrendous things about the parents of students in public schools. He doesn’t care as they are already planning to steal this election just like the last presidential and Senatorial (GA) and probably so many more. Just in Fairfax county alone they have changed voting laws so that signature verification won’t be done. They’ve already announced that the results from Fairfax County won’t be counted the night of the election.
It goes like this: target the largest most influential counties; wait until all else is counted; find from that how many votes are needed to win; Manufacture enough fake ballots to win; scan them in and announce the win for the leftist running.
We will never have another fair election again ion this country unless the feckless so called conservatives get off their asses and do something. But that isn’t happening.