Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday night, in his quest to take back his old job. McAuliffe cleared the field with 60 percent of the vote over 4 other contenders including Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax (D-VA).
Virginia voters favor “fresh leadership” in GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin over McAuliffe’s “career politician” record, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) argued after the former governor was declared the Democrat nominee.
“The contrast between career politician and establishment insider Terry McAuliffe and successful businessman and political outsider Glenn Youngkin is stark,” RGA Executive Director Dave Rexrode said in a release. “The stench of corruption follows McAuliffe wherever he goes, and voters across the Commonwealth are looking for fresh leadership after nearly a decade of failures from the McAuliffe-Northam regime. The RGA looks forward to exposing Terry McAuliffe’s litany of broken promises and misdeeds between now and November.”
The GOP gubernatorial arm is also painting McAuliffe as “corrupt,” “soft on crime,” and an “ultimate insider,” pointing to his previous tenure as governor.
Youngkin, a political outsider, also criticized McAuliffe’s record as a career politician.
Voters from across the political spectrum agree that we need a new kind of leader to bring a new day to Virginia. Get ready, because Terry McAuliffe will default to the same political games he’s played his entire life.
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) June 9, 2021
I’m confident that voters will not choose a recycled, 40-year political insider and career politician who pretends to be a businessman, who talks big but doesn’t deliver, and who failed Virginians the first time he was governor.
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) June 9, 2021
The gubernatorial race will take place in November as a major test for both parties’ midterm election prospects.
