Tipsheet

As He Flounders in Last Remaining Days of Campaign, Terry McAuliffe Is a No Show for Events

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 30, 2021 7:30 PM

Election Day in Virginia is just three days away and in the final days of the campaign, one candidate's momentum continues to climb. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and his campaign appear to be floundering, as evidence in part by him being a no show at multiple events for his get out the vote (GOTV) tour stops. 

At an event in Prince William County on Thursday night, McAuliffe did not appear at a GOTV event, but rather candidate for lieutenant governor, Del. Hala Ayala appeared before a small crowd. A large McAuliffe sign is clearly visible in the background.

Among those in attendance included supporters for McAuliffe's Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, according to Uriah Kiser with Potomac Local News. 

McAuliffe also failed to show up at a similar event on Friday at the Port City Brewing Co in Alexandria.

Of course, what also happened on Friday was a publicity stunt of five individuals posing at the Youngkin tour bus with tiki torches, reminiscent of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in August 2017.

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The Lincoln Project and liberal activist Lauren Windsor ultimately took credit for later that day.

In these remaining days, McAuliffe's events have been marked by sparse attendance.

Meanwhile, Youngkin has been able to draw massive crowds, comparable to the size that high profile Democratic figures such as former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris are able to draw. 

The Republican nominee even drew a massive crowd for an event in Old Town, Alexandria, advertised for 7:30 on a Saturday morning. 

The Virginia Democratic staff is also in disarray. Cari Berlin, as shared in a Friday afternoon edition of POLITICO Playbook, left her post as the GOTV director for Virginia Democrats to work as a scheduler for Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).

In a more grave sign of desperation, McAuliffe has hired attorney and liberal activist Marc Elias, who is known for trying to overturn Republican voter integrity legislation. Such a move may be a sign he is planning to question the election results should they not be in his favor. As I pointed out in my coverage, this would mean going back on assurances he gave to voters during the first debate last month.

Leah also covered that McAuliffe's spokesperson, Christina Freundlich, mistakenly emailed a Fox News reporter asking "can we try to kill this story."

These final days are also marked by a dramatic shift in the polls. For months, McAuliffe was consistently shown to be in the lead, with more recent polls showing a tie, and now even Youngkin in the lead, as Guy highlighted on Friday morning. News of more polls with similar results are also coming.

The RealClearPolitics (RCP) average has Youngkin up by 0.6 percentage points for polls conducted October 14-28, as does FiveThirtyEight.