Terry McAuliffe — Democrat Primary
Former Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe was chosen June 8th in the state primary. He was Governor of the state back in 2014 until 2018. While in office his biggest campaign promise was to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Cares Act. He failed to keep this campaign promise because the Republicans controlled the Assembly. Before 2014 he never held any public office status even though he was always involved in the Democratic Party. When his friends Hillary and Bill Clinton were running their campaigns he set record high fundraising numbers.
During his time in office the Republican Party controlled the Assembly so most of his legislative action had to come from executive power. One of those executive powers he used was to give convicted felons the right to vote again.
According to his campaign website Terry McAuliffe’s biggest priorities are education, jobs and the economy and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the primary McAuliffe was endorsed by Gov. Ralph Northam who is a Democrat along with about half of the leaders of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. But some Democrats have said they would have liked to have seen a Black woman at the top of the party’s ticket while acknowledging their feeling that McAuliffe, as a tried candidate, was a more pragmatic choice. His primary win was resounding; he took 62 percent of the vote and every locality in the state.
Glenn Youngkin — Republicans’ Primary
Glenn Youngkin is the former CEO of the Carlyle Group. Youngkin has an estimated net worth of 300 million dollars. In his campaign ads he talks about how he wants to make Virginia a place for a family to grow up and start a business. Youngkin also discusses his views on gun rights and his opposition on abortions. He also says in his campaign ads that with Liberal Democrats controlling the State Legislature and Executive Mansion it has ruined the state of Virginia.
Before he won the Primary seat he agreed with Former President Trump that the 2020 election was stolen. After the primaries were over he said he was going to launch a “election integrity” force. He then would acknowledge that President Biden did win the election with no fraud. Youngkin mailed his supporters little wallet sized cards saying “The Youngkin Election Integrity Task Force, Member.”
rump gave Youngkin a rousing endorsement after Youngkin’s win in the May 8 convention: “Glenn is pro-Business, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Veterans, pro-America, he knows how to make Virginia’s economy rip-roaring, and he has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump said in a statement posted to his website. Youngkin said he was “honored” to receive Trump’s endorsement
Youngkin has treaded carefully when it comes to the former president, who remains highly popular with the GOP base despite his 10-point loss in Virginia overall last year. Since winning the nomination, Youngkin has said he is focused on the “kitchen table” issues popular with suburban swing voters, such as jobs, schools and public safety.
Princess Blanding — Independent
Princess Blanding whose brother, a Black high school biology teacher was killed by Richmond police while he was experiencing a mental health crisis in 2018, is running for governor under the newly formed Liberation Party. In her announcement video, she advocated dismantling “the two-party system that continues to block needed changes,” saying she wanted to focus on issues such as health care for everyone, safe schools and criminal justice reform.
Fundraising
This election is set to have record high campaign costs. Both Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin are both multimillionaires. McAuliffe is a well known fundraiser that raised about 15 million dollars at the end of May. In July and August brought in $11.5 million.
Youngkin had raised nearly $16 million for his campaign by the end of May. $12 million of that in loans from himself. In July and August, Youngkin raised $11.5 million, with $4.5 million of that in loans from himself.
The third-party candidate Blanding raised just over $19,000 by the end of May, and an additional $1,258 in July and August.
Debates
McAuliffe and Youngkin had two debates. They first squared off at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, on September 16th. The roughly hour long debate focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and abortion, with the two candidates setting up competing visions for the governor’s race in a contentious, bare-knuckled debate that featured constant interruptions and accusations between the men.
The second and final debate was hosted on September 28 by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce on the campus of Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria. The candidates picked up where they left off earlier in the month from their only other debate. Each calling the other a liar and too dangerous to serve as governor. But there were a handful of areas where they agreed. Both men urged Congress to pass the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, and McAuliffe urged passage of the even bigger package of spending programs proposed by congressional Democrats. Though he said the $3.5 trillion price tag for the “Human Infrastructure” was “too high.”
Voting Day
On November 2nd millions of Virginia residents will head to the polls to cast a vote for one of the three candidates. Experts say if Democrats lose the Governor seat it will be a threat to the seats in the United States Senate and House OF Representatives. Follow us on Twitter for the latest on the election as it gets closer.
