Republicans in Washington exulted in Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday over former Governor Terry McAuliffe and the very close race in New Jersey, which has yet to be called.
“Today is a wakeup call for Washington Democrats,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday, “to abandon the partisanship, extremist agenda of Washington-based programs that cost trillions of dollars and that nobody even wants.” He went on to predict bigger losses for Democrats in the midterms next year.
“It’ll be more than 70 Democrats that will be competitive,” McCarthy said of the House races next year. “There’s many that are going to lose their races, based on walking off a cliff — from Nancy Pelosi pushing them.”
Youngkin‘s victory over Terry McAuliffe came in a state President Biden won by 10 points in 2020.
In New Jersey, a state Mr. Biden won by 16 points, there were still a number of Democratic counties that had not reported their results by late Tuesday night, and incumbent Governor Phil Murphy had yet not locked down what was expected to be a relatively easy win over Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
McAuliffe campaigned on national issues, on abortion and voting rights, while Youngkin zeroed in on local issues, hitting McAuliffe hard on education and the economy.
Youngkin said in his victory speech that Virginians had arrived at a “defining moment.”
“Together, together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth,” he said. “And friends, we are going to start that transformation on day one. There is no time to waste. Our kids can’t wait, we work in real-people time, not government time. So on day one, we’re going to work. We’re going to restore excellence in our schools.”
McAuliffe conceded defeat to Youngkin on Wednesday morning, but vowed he will “never stop fighting to make our Commonwealth stronger and brighter for all.”
“Congratulations to Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin on his victory. I hope Virginians will join me in wishing the best to him and his family,” McAuliffe said in a statement.
