Unlike other state
governors, Virginia governors are not allowed to serve consecutive terms. They
have been barred from immediate re-election since the adoption of Virginia's
second constitution, in 1830. However, a former governor is permitted to run
for a second term in a future election.
Since 1830, only Mills Godwin, was elected to additional term. Godwin
also became the first ever governor in American history to be elected by both
major parties when the former Democrat Governor (1966-70) was re-elected in
1973 as a Republican.
Virginia has another
tradition, for nearly 50 years, with two exceptions; in 1973 when Governor
House & White House was with Republicans and in 2013 McAuliffe (D) got
elected when Obama (D) was in White House. Virginians have elected governors
from the opposite party of the one that controlled the White House. They seem
to favor a balance between state and national politics.
The state population has boomed, it is up by 38 percent since 1990. One in 10 people eligible to vote in the state were born outside the United States, up from 01 in 28 in 1990.
For years, Virginia has shifted more
Democratic and since after the election of (D) Gov. Ralph Northam in 2018, it
has become a solid blue state. According to Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report, which
provides analysis of elections and races; in 2018 Democrats
succeeded in places where they didn’t in 2006, but also they did well in places
that 10 years ago we never would have considered competitive.” It has not voted Republican in a presidential
election since 2004 and it has not elected a Republican to any statewide
office since 2009.
Large swaths of Virginia are still very conservative and Trump is popular in those places. In 2016, he won 93 of Virginia’s 133 counties, but it wasn’t enough to take the state & lost to Clinton by 5.4%. In 2020 election, Biden won Virginia with 54.11% of the vote, and by a margin of 10.11%, the best performance for a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944.
This year the contest for Governorship is between a political newcomer and a businessman Glenn Allen Youngkin on the Republican side and former Democrat Gov. Terrence Richard McAuliffe.
Terry McAuliffe is a life
long carrier American politician and better known as
consigliere to the Clinton family, few people epitomize establishment socialism
better than Terry McAuliffe. He was the 72nd Gov. of VA from 2014 to
2018, chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign
and Chair of DNC from 2001 to 2005. He
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2009 VA Gov.
elections. If he wins the 2021 election, he would become the first VA Gov.
since Mills Godwin in 1973 to serve two non-consecutive terms.
McAuliffe had
his bachelor's degree from the Catholic University of America.
After graduating worked for President Jimmy Carter's
re-election campaign, becoming the national finance director at age 22.
Following the campaign, he attended Georgetown University Law Center,
where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree.
He is married to his wife, Dorothy (American attorney), for 33 years and the
couple has five children.
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Glenn Youngkin is an
American businessman, prior to entering politics, he has spent 25 years at the
private-equity firm The Carlyle Group, rising to become its Co-CEO. He is an
alumni of Rice University, Harvard University & Harvard Business School. He
is married to his wife, Suzanne, for 27 years and the couple has four children.
Suzanne, is the founder of Normandy Farm’s
and the President of the Phos Foundation. She is a member of the
Meadowlark Retreat Center’s Board of Directors and the Shakespeare Theatre
Company. She is also a member of the Equine Medical Center’s Advisory Council
at Virginia Tech. She not only support her husband’s policies, also handles
issues in the campaign.
Youngkin, who retired
from Carlyle in September 2020, described leaving because he felt “called into
public service.” His friends say Youngkin’s rise up the professional ladder
hasn’t changed him and he remains down to earth, hardworking and humble.
Right from the beginning
McAllife has made tying Youngkin to Trump the central attack of his campaign,
hoping to link the Republican to a former President who lost VA in both 2016
and 2020. He was banking on that voters' distaste for Trump will be enough to
weigh Youngkin down. Other than that McAuliffe has focused on his record from
his previous term, but he never offered much of an argument as to why he
deserves a second term. He attacks Trump with a passion, but avoids talking
about his friend for 4 decades President Biden, whom he helped carry Virginia
by 10 points just a year ago.
In his effort to tie
Youngkin with Trump, he was supported by President Biden on July 28, 2021. Biden said in the rally that, "Terry and
I share a lot in common. I ran against Donald Trump and so is Terry. And I
whipped Donald Trump in Virginia and so will Terry," McAuliffe said in
Arlington. "I tell you what, the guy Terry is running against is an
acolyte of Donald Trump -- for real." McAuliffe, also calls Youngkin a
“Trump wannabe.”
By August,
McAuliffe had a 12 points (46-38) lead over Republican Youngkin in VA Gov.
race, according to a Roanoke College poll. On SEP 17, 2021 during the first election debate, McAuliffe made it clear that
Virginia has rejected Donald Trump and his right-wing agenda and will reject Glenn
Youngkin this November.
On the other hand,
Youngkin’s campaign had a sluggish start but later on moved into high gear.
With no experience as a candidate, and few insider connections or public
political views. Youngkin started proving to be a natural campaigner, both
connecting with voters and deftly seizing on dissatisfaction with Richmond and
Washington. Even GOP lawmaker who were not too supportive, started coming
around on Youngkin, after seeing his ability to connect with people as his best
attribute. Eventually he got the support of 94% of Republicans in the
state.
He started targeting
concerns among moderate and swing voters in Northern Virginia about crime,
taxes and spending. His support for the police, pledge to protect police
officers against individual lawsuits, and effort to paint Democrats as anti-law
enforcement were among the issues that forced the voters to take him as a
serious challenger.
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The voters started
responding to his pitch, that I’ll be honest, I’m not a politician. I am a
businessman who’s spent the last 30 years raising my family in Virginia, I
firmly believe Virginia should be the best and I’m ready to join together with
hard working Virginians to make it happen.
He wants to divide
parents from their kids’ classrooms
He wants to remove law enforcement from our communities
He wants to divide
Virginia
Youngkin spokesperson
Matt Wolking responded to McAuliffe's ad against Youngkin, by saying the former
governor "opposes requiring a photo ID to vote, which undermines the
integrity of our elections and makes it easier to cheat."
"Glenn Youngkin
will restore Virginia's photo ID law and make sure it is easy for every
eligible person to vote and harder to cheat," Wolking said. "As an
American, Glenn Youngkin is absolutely right that in order for Virginia to do
well economically, the foundations of our country must be strong, including
confidence in the integrity of our elections and Americans' willingness to accept
the results of our democratic process."
On September 28, McAuliffe
in a debate with Youngkin, was asked to address parental complaints about
sexually explicit books and curricula, McAuliffe said: “I don’t think
parents should be telling schools what they should
teach.” After the debate on Sep. 30, 2021 Roanoke College Poll was released,
showing McAuliffe’s lead came down to 7 point over Youngkin from 12 points in early
Aug. 2021.
Within
hours, Team Youngkin made McAuliffe’s quote world famous, via TV ads, social
media, Twitter and widespread news coverage.
A Youngkin spot soon showed McAuliffe, on
video, repeatedly stating the same position:
“You don’t want parents coming in, in every
different school jurisdiction.”
Regarding school agendas: “First of all, this
is determined by the State Board of Education and local school boards. And
that’s where it should be.”
“You do not want 25 parents picking books.”
“We have a Board of Ed, and we have local
school boards who make the decisions about teaching.”
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“I’m not going to let parents come into
schools and actually take books out and make their own decision.”
This
brought Youngkin and Virginia Gov. election on the Map of America. The Parental involvement is becoming a potent
National Issue in the education of their children and it is gaining traction in
all major cities of America.
White fathers and mothers hate Critical Race
Theory teaching their sons and daughters that they are genetic racists who must
apologize for being born Caucasian. Some black parents loathe CRT for deeming
their children eternally oppressed by Whites and, thus, doomed to failure. These
parents have packed school board meetings to excoriate CRT, counterproductive
mask and vax mandates, gender studies, and more. All of this has driven parents
and other voters into the streets.
McAuliffe’s colossal mistake on Sep 28th,
was the final nail in the coffin of his own campaign after Biden’s dismal 52%
disapproval at national level because of his fiasco to allow 2 mil unauthorized
migrants to enter America, high energy prices and abrupt pull out from
Afghanistan by leaving its own citizens & allies, and making America a laughing
stock of the world. After that the race became a dead-tied at 46 to 46.
To salvage his dying campaign, McAuliffe brought in DNC Chair, Jaime Harrison, Democrat activist, Stacey Abrams , VP Kamala
Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, Former President
Barack Obama and President Joe Biden made his 2nd visit to the state to help
him take the lead back. So far their collective efforts to prop up the
candidacy of McAuliffe has failed
miserably rather Obama & Biden both have hurt him by making divisive
comments, rants against former President Trump, who is not the candidate and
tying Younkin to Trump.
On Oct
23, Former US president Barack Obama urged voters to back the Democrat in a
neck-and-neck election touted as a test of the party’s prospects in next year’s
midterm elections — casting the Republican as a threat to democracy.
Oct. 26, Biden’s rant hit
Trump on everything from his claims of election fraud, the pandemic and the
Jan. 6 insurrection. Biden asked, “How well do you know Terry’s
opponent?” “Well, just remember this. I ran against Donald Trump. And
Terry is running against an acolyte of Donald Trump.” Toward the end of his
speech, he said extremism could come in many forms, it could arrive in a
mob-driven assault on the U.S. Capitol. Then Biden added of Youngkin, “it
can come in a smile and a fleece vest.” "Virginia, you can't take anything
for granted," the president concluded his speech. "Show up for
democracy, for Virginia, for the United States of America." Biden said
next to nothing about the negotiations on his signature social welfare and infrastructure
legislation happening just across the Potomac at the same time.
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In the mean time, Youngkin
got elevated to the status of the new conservative face surging against
the old establishment. He has succeeded
in dismantling Socialism as preached by Democrats. He said, this race has never been this close, we have the
chance to start a red wave across this nation. But it starts with winning this
race. He told Fox News: “This is
no longer a campaign. It’s a movement.”
During the first three
weeks of October, Youngkin outraised McAuliffe, while McAuliffe outspent
Youngkin, according to reports compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project,
a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics. Patrick Murray, director of
the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, also cited a shift in
voters’ top issues away from the pandemic, which tends to favor Democrats, and
toward the economy and education, where the politics are murkier.
Youngkin's campaign will become a template for
the Republicans in 2022 midterm elections, especially for those in blue states. Youngkin will be elected as
Gov of VA on Nov. 3, 2021 to capture the governor’s mansion for the Republican’s to
make it the first time since 2009.
The other highlight is
the contest between two women of
color, Republican Winsome E Sears is
facing off against Democrat Hala S Ayala to be Virginia's next lieutenant
governor on November 2, 2021. The Lt. Gov. is popularly
elected every four years by a plurality and, unlike the governor, may run for
re-election. Of the four
lieutenant governors who have been elected since 2002, three were Democrats and
one was a Republican. The Lt. Gov. serves as the president of the
Virginia State Senate and may cast tie-breaking votes. Virginia is one of
17 states in which the Lt. Gov. is nominated in a separate primary and elected
in separate general election from the governor.
Sears was elected to a
majority Black legislative district in 2001! No other Republican has done that
in Virginia since 1865: She consequently also became the first (and still only)
Black Republican woman elected to the House, the first female Marine veteran,
and the first legal Jamaican immigrant woman. She is a mother, wife and has
Master’s degree and has built a successful business also. She was also a
hard-charging Vice President of the Virginia State Board of Education and
received presidential appointments to the US Census Bureau (where she
co-chaired the African American Committee) and the Advisory Committee on Women
Veterans to the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs. However, she is most proud of her community work leading a men’s
prison ministry and as director of a women’s homeless shelter for The Salvation
Army.
Ayala is
an American Hispanic politician representing the 51st district in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2017. She defeated four-term Republican incumbent Richard L.
Anderson. Ayala and Elizabeth
Guzman became the first Hispanic women
elected to the House. She has an associate’s degree in psychology from
the University
of Phoenix. Has formerly worked for the United States Department of Homeland
Security as a cybersecurity specialist for
18 years. She also formerly led the Prince William County chapter of the National Organization for Women, serving as chapter president in 2014. She was
a volunteer for Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012. She also served on the Virginia
Council on Women as an appointee of Governor Terry
McAuliffe for a term expiring on June 30,
2016. She is a single mother and has two children. She, claims African, Hispanic, Irish and Lebanese ancestry
because of El Salvador native father and an Irish and Lebanese
mother.
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Sears or Ayala: both
would make history in VA election; either candidate would be the first woman as
well as the first woman of color to serve in a post that serves as a launching
pad to the governor’s mansion. 5 of the past 10 lieutenant governors went on to
become governor. In a University of Mary Washington poll conducted
between September 7-13, 2021, 47% of likely voters supported Sears while 41%
supported Ayala. Since than Sears has been maintaining this lead over Ayala
despite being labeled as too
extreme by Ayala.
Sears is voter’s
favorite to be elected as Lt. Gov of VA
on Nov. 3, 2021.
Compiled from various
sources on internet.
By: Dave Makkar
