VIRGINIA GOVERNOR RACE ISSUES AD WARS FULL

Biden would go on to win the state last year by a whopping 10 percentage points.īut the headwinds this election cycle were too much, both locally and nationally. McAuliffe won the governor’s mansion in 2013 on his second attempt and Democrats held it in 2017 as a symbolic check on the new Trump team.

Democrats in the state subsequently got their acts together, in large measure through the leadership of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine who are these days the commonwealth’s Democratic Senators and former Governors. The former capital of the Confederacy last elected a Republican Governor in 2009, in large measure as a rejoinder to Barack Obama’s wobbly first year in office. Virginia’s political shift in recent elections has been one of the most dramatic in the country. With more than 95% of the votes counted, Youngkin was leading with 50.9% of the vote to McAuliffe’s 48.4%.

VIRGINIA GOVERNOR RACE ISSUES AD WARS FULL

That move was in full view among white women, who voted for Biden over Trump by a 50-49 margin last year and sided with Youngkin over McAullife by a 57-43 rate-a 15-point swing in just one year.Īfter hours of a tight count, The Associated Press called the race for Youngkin at 12:37 a.m. By a slight margin-28% to 20%-more voters told the exit pollsters that they voted to demonstrate their opposition to Biden than to have his back. Trump was definitely a drag on Youngkin, but Joe Biden proved worse for McAuliffe. By Election Day, seven in 10 Virginia voters told The Washington Post that Youngkin’s ideas were similar to Trump’s and voters were four times as likely to vote against Youngkin as for him based on Trump’s endorsement.īut Youngkin smartly seemed to keep Trump at arm’s length during his campaign, even while doing little to silence Trumpist pet paranoias on how schools teach history, explain race and assert without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen from the 45th President. Even the state Democrats sent mail in the last week promoting Trump’s praise of Youngkin. 'The next two weeks will see a lot more mobilization, continual appeals for turnout and nonstop commercial ads from the two candidates,' said Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech.Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, and his allies did everything they could to link Republican rival Glenn Youngkin to the ex-President. And the disparity in enthusiasm between supporters of Youngkin and McAuliffe has grown to a 23 percentage point gap in the poll, at 49% to 26%. The Monmouth University poll found the candidate's neck and neck with support among likely voters identical at 46%. With Virginia's Election Day just under two weeks away, both candidates are likely to ratchet up their campaign advertising to motivate their partisan bases. Youngkin has a more of a mix of positive and negative ads, including biographical ads that underscore his business-approach to politics due to his 25 years of experience as a former CEO of the Carlyle Group. Overall, roughly 75% of McAuliffe's television ads include attacks on his GOP opponent. The ads focus on their overlapping stances on Covid-19, election integrity and education.

And several of McAuliffe's ads attack Youngkin for opposing vaccine mandates.Ībout 25% of McAuliffe's television ads also link Youngkin to former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed the Republican candidate. Other national and local issues play central roles in both candidate's television ads.įor instance, many of Youngkin's ads either attack McAuliffe for pushing for police reform or Virginia's high crime rates when he served as governor. The ad characterized McAuliffe as 'putting politics over parents' and 'failing our kids.' His comment during the debate came after an argument between the two candidates over a veto McAuliffe signed as governor of legislation that allowed parents to opt out of allowing their children to study material deemed sexually explicit. 'I'm not going to let parents come into schools and take books out and make their own decision,' McAuliffe said. One of Youngkin's most expensive ads, which cost approximately $1.5 million to produce and air, includes a clip from the first gubernatorial debate where McAuliffe expressed that he does not think parents should decide what schools should teach. Three of Youngkin's most expensive television ads attack McAuliffe for this stance, and have been aired up to 4,200 times. The Republican candidate's campaign has slammed McAuliffe for opposing parental control over public-school curriculum in particular. Youngkin's campaign has seen schools as a pathway to victory amid a crusade against mask mandates and critical race theory.

Virginia governor race issues ad wars