The 2021 Virginia Governor race is heating up – and the Republican nominee is already panicking
It may be an off-year as far as elections are concerned, but the race for governor happening in Virginia right now is one of the most pivotal elections going forward. Although Terry McAuliffe, running for a second term, is favored to win the Democratic primaries, it’s taken a while to find out who the Republican nominee would be. After a drawn out firehouse primary process on Saturday, Glenn Youngkin recently emerged as the winner. Some Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief after the more extreme candidate Amanda Chase who supported the Capitol riots lost the nomination – but the trouble is that Youngkin isn’t all that moderate and he knows it.
In fact, shortly after his victory speech, Youngkin was caught trying to scrub his name from some of the more extreme viewpoints he’s harbored up until a few weeks ago. Keep in mind that he’s not trying to get rid of the content itself – just keep his listed videos from showing up in a YouTube search. Topics he’s now embarrassed to share include a video of him brandishing a gun and defending the Second Amendment, attacking critical race theory, a video where he got an endorsement from Ted Cruz, and another one where he describes himself as a “conservative Christian outsider. Unfortunately for Youngkin, his last-ditch effort was caught and archived.
Virginia is a state that’s rapidly been trending blue – but it’s clearer than ever that we can’t afford to get complacent. Just because Donald Trump is no longer than office, we’re likely to feel the effects of his tenure for years to come, with demented candidates like Youngkin and Chase. Let’s do all we can to support Terry McAuliffe for governor in 2021, and Democrats in the state’s senate and legislature.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making