Hold the line on this one

| 11:00 pm EDT October 26, 2021
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Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has a proven record in Virginia. As Governor from 2014 to 2018, he attracted businesses and helped create jobs, pushed for expanded healthcare, protected women’s rights, fought for sensible gun reform, and successfully reworked the state budget in his first year in office to address a sudden $2+ billion drop in revenues resulting from changes in federal policies.

Yet his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, tries to paint McAuliffe as a dangerous radical who is out of touch with Virginians and will lead the Commonwealth astray. This is an odd strategy for Youngkin to pursue, since McAuliffe is a known quantity to Virginians, and he was clearly not a wild-eyed, radical Governor. He governed well and even worked cooperatively with Republicans when necessary, such as in solving the aforementioned budget problem. It is Youngkin who is the wild card.

Youngkin has absolutely no experience in governing. None. Yet he acts like McAuliffe is the unknown quantity, and tries to paint him in dark and scary terms. Alternatively, Youngkin acknowledges, for instance, that McAuliffe added jobs when he was Governor, but Youngkin claims he could do better — even though he’s never done it before and has no basis whatsoever for making that claim. Does that remind you of anyone?

Even though he has never led — or even served in — a government at any level, Youngkin’s view is that it seems easy enough, so why not let him give it a try. He’s like an armchair quarterback sitting on the couch all weekend watching football games and criticizing the coaches and players, convinced that he could do a better job.

Just as a football team would be foolish to install a couch potato as its coach or QB, Virginians would be reckless to install Youngkin as Governor. Youngkin was actually caught on tape saying he had to soft-pedal his positions during the campaign in order to get elected – but if he actually were elected, then he’d be able to go on the offensive. Virginians can’t afford to let this wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing get anywhere near the levers of power.

Vote for Terry McAuliffe, a man with a proven record, who will fight for jobs, workforce development, education, women’s rights, the environment, voter rights, accessible healthcare, and sensible gun control.