Why Virginia Governor’s Election Matters for All Americans
Virginia Allen / Lauren Evans /
Vice President Kamala Harris predicted that what happened in Virginia’s gubernatorial election would have significant implications for future elections.
“Because, you see, what happens in Virginia will in large part determine what happens in 2022, 2024, and on,” Harris said while campaigning for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, a former governor seeking a return to office.
On Tuesday night, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated McAuliffe by almost 80,000 votes out of more than 3.25 million ballots cast, a victory margin of about 2.5%. Republicans also recaptured the lieutenant governor’s and state attorney general’s offices.
The results of Virginia’s elections came as a surprise to many on the left, and even on the right. The state has been trending blue for some time. Virginia’s past two governors have been Democrats, and in the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 10 percentage points in the state.
Debates over education became a key focal point of the election, and many think Youngkin won because of his strong stance on parental rights and keeping critical race theory and gender identity ideology out of the schools.
“Youngkin’s victory shows the lasting power of kitchen-table issues,” Jessica Anderson, Heritage Action for American executive director, said in a statement.
“When parents see how woke policies hurt their children and their communities, they spring into action, and we saw this first hand in Virginia,” Anderson said.
Education has become a critical issue in states across the country as school districts fight over mask mandates and curriculums. But it remains to be seen whether or not Harris’ prediction is accurate and whether Americans will look back and say, “So went Virginia, so went the nation.”
On today’s edition of the “Problematic Women” podcast, we break down the implications of the Virginia elections. We also discuss new developments in the rape case in Loudoun County, Virginia, Public Schools. Plus, we celebrate the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series, just months after Major League Baseball moved the All-Star Game out of Atlanta over an election integrity bill.
And as always, we’ll be crowning our “Problematic Woman of the Week.”
Listen to the podcast below.