From the BBC:
“Glenn Youngkin: Win for
Republican in Virginia governor vote”
Republican Glenn Youngkin has
been elected as Virginia's next governor in a major upset, according to US
media projections. He was 2.1 points ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe, with
99% of votes counted. Mr McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014-18, saw
his opinion poll lead vanish in recent weeks. The ballot has been widely seen
as a referendum on Joe Biden's presidency, and defeat will unnerve the
Democrats. Mr Biden won by 10 points in Virginia in the presidential election
just a year ago. In a speech to cheering fans, Mr Youngkin promised to get to
work straight away to transform the state. "We work in real people time,
not government time," the Republican declared. The state's current,
Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, was unable to stand for re-election as
Virginia does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms in office. In more
potential good news for Republicans in the state, their candidate, former US
Marine Winsome Sears is tipped to become the first black female lieutenant
governor of the state, which was the former seat of the pro-slavery Confederacy
during the American Civil War. The Republican candidate for Virginia attorney
general, Cuban American Jason Miyares, was also leading that vote count. And
Republicans seemed to be closing in on control of the state's House of
Delegates.
In other elections across the
US on Tuesday:
Republican challenger Jack
Ciattarelli had a narrow lead over New Jersey's Democratic Governor Phil
Murphy, with 88% of votes counted
Amid surging crime, Minneapolis
voters rejected a proposal to replace the city's police department with a new
Department of Public Safety, more than a year after the murder of George Floyd
by an officer
As expected, Democrat Eric Adams
won New York City's mayoral election to replace his party colleague Bill de
Blasio
In other races, voters in Boston
elected their first woman of colour as mayor, Michelle Wu, an Asian-American,
and Pittsburgh picked its first black mayor, Democrat Ed Gainey
Mr Youngkin is the first
Republican elected to statewide office in Virginia since 2009. The political
newcomer focused during the bitterly fought election on crime and the economy,
as well as how schools handle race, gender and mask mandates. Mr McAuliffe
campaigned on other cultural issues, such as abortion rights and voting reform.
But the Democrat's critics hammered him for saying during a debate: "I
don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." According
to exit polls by the BBC's US partner, CBS, education and the school curriculum
were top issues for slightly more than half of all voters.
At a news conference earlier on
Tuesday, Mr Biden predicted his party would win the first major election since
he took office 10 months ago, but he acknowledged "the off-year is always
unpredictable". Mr Biden's popularity has been sliding amid rising
inflation, a slow economic recovery, a deadlocked legislative agenda and the
aftermath of a disorderly US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Democratic
president's approval rating has fallen to 43%, according to an opinion poll
average by RealClearPolitics. The McAuliffe campaign tried to liken the
challenger to former President Donald Trump, who remains unpopular in Virginia.
But Mr Youngkin, a mild-mannered private equity tycoon, sought to appeal to
moderates by keeping Mr Trump at arm's length, while tapping into the former
president's supporters in the state. His balancing act may offer a template for
Republicans seeking to win back suburban moderate voters who were turned off by
Mr Trump's firebrand style of politics. The race could shape party messaging
and battle-plans for next year's mid-term elections, when the Democrats will
defend their wafer-thin majorities in Congress, and the 2024 White House
election. Mr Trump thanked his supporters for "coming out in force and
voting for Glenn Youngkin", saying the MAGA movement was "bigger and
stronger than ever before".
The Trump playbook without
Trump The restaurant was crowded, with people angling for the best place to
watch election returns on big screens, with American flags everywhere. They
had gathered for a watch party, hoping to see their candidate, Glenn Youngkin,
a Republican, win the governor's race. Over the past several months, he
has charted a course for conservatives - he talks frequently about race
relations in the US, and has denounced the teaching of critical race theory.
He ran on a law-and-order platform, and opposed mask mandates, and his
messaging echoed the kind that Mr Trump uses. But Mr Youngkin kept his distance
from the former president. In this way, Mr Youngkin has appealed to
voters who like Mr Trump's positions, but are uneasy about the man himself. Mr
Youngkin's approach has helped propel him to a close race, and is likely to
guide other conservatives in their campaigns for the congressional midterms.
^ Americans of all Political
Beliefs are sick and tired of all the fighting. The fighting between the
Republicans and the Democrats and more importantly the in-fighting between the
Democrats. They also don’t approve of Biden or what he has done and has not
done since becoming President. The results from yesterday’s elections show
that. The Democrats need to get their acts together (especially Congress and
Biden) if they hope to do better in 2022 not to mention Trump could be
re-elected. ^
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