‘They used my name so much they ended up losing’: Donald Trump says Dems’ obsession with him cost them Virginia gubernatorial election and says his MAGA voters came out for Glenn Youngkin
- Donald Trump said Democrats lost Virginia’s governorship because they were too busy attacking him rather than focusing on the issues voters cared about
- Terry McAuliffe and Democratic allies had spent much of the campaign season likening Republican Glenn Youngkin to the former president
- Youngkin beat McAuliffe 50. 9%to 48.4% in a state that Joe Biden won by 10 points in 2020, which Democrats fear is a sign of more losses next year
- Trump claimed his supporters came out in force to support Youngkin on his education policy as protests erupted in the state over teaching CRT
- Youngkin had said McAuliffe’s comments that parent’s should not have a say on what’s taught in the classroom is what put him over the top
Donald Trump said the GOP’s surprise Virginial gubernatorial win was due to the Democrats’ obsession with him during their campaign.
The former president said Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe and his allies focused too much on him and not Youngkin, who Trump called a ‘very good candidate.’
‘If you look at what happened in Virginia, it’s very interesting. They used my name — the Democrats — so much that they ended up losing,’ Trump told Fox News’s website. ‘One of the reasons [McAuliffe] lost is because he kept saying Trump, Trump, Trump.’
He also claimed that MAGA voters swept the polls because they liked Youngkin’s education policy, which has been highlighted through the protests at the Loudoun County Public School District against the teaching of critical race theory.
‘The people of Virginia are angry, and the reason we won that state — number one — we had a good candidate and a nice guy and somebody who was really, very gracious, but you also had the MAGA voters come out in force because they’re tired of it, and they voted, and they made the difference.’
Former President Donald Trump, pictured in October, said MAGA supporters helped sweep the polls for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin
Youngkin celebrated said his victory signified a shift in culture where education policies will become key points in the coming elections
Trump and Youngkin pointed to the Loudon County School protests against critical race theory as to why fed up parents would vote for him over his opponent, Terry McAuliffe
Youngkin beat McAuliffe 50.9 per cent to 48.4 per cent in a state that was expected to easily be handed to Democrats, after President Joe Biden won it by 10 points in the 2020 presidential election.
Issues involving education became a central focus of the campaign when parents were concerned they were losing say over their children’s time at school – including the teaching of Critical Race Theory and the rights of trans students.
Progressives insist CRT isn’t being taught there, conservatives say that youngsters are being instructed on charged subjects seen by their teachers through the lens of CRT, which examines how racism permeates all levels of society.
‘Parents across Virginia started to recognize that they really did need to have an important, decisive role in their children’s education,’ he continued. ‘And when they heard Terry McAuliffe say… he wants to put government between parents and their children, this ceased to be a campaign and it started to be a movement led by parents.’
During the campaign season, names as big as Biden and former President Barack Obama both came out to campaign for McAuliffe, with the latter insisting culture wars topics were being used Trump-style to stoke voters’ fears.
Obama accused Youngkin of stoking fears in order to grow his base, similar to the accusations he made against Trump in 2016.
‘They brought in everybody they could bring in,’ Trump told Fox. ‘It was a great victory in a state that, I happen to think, is much more red than they think.’
Former President Barack Obama, right, gives an elbow bump to Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe during a rally in Richmond, Virginia
Youngkin’s victory is seen as a test for the rest of the nation as Democrats fear losing swing states and strongholds to Republicans amid the culture wars over critical race theory.
Conservatives have fought hard against schools implementing the teaching of CRT, which is a way to teach history that links the development of the US and its laws to race.
Republicans claim this teaching is a way to make America seem like a racist nation and they say it focuses too much on dividing students by race.
In April, the county announced that they planned to allocate more then $6 million to ‘equity training’ which was met with strong opposition by some residents.
Trans issues have also become big in Virginia schools, especially in Loudoun County, the wealthiest county in the U.S.
Parents in the Loudoun County School District protest teaching CRT in schools in June
The school quickly became a symbol for the national debate surrounding ‘woke teachings’ in public schools. Pictured, parent Shelley Slebrch leading protests inside the school
Parents also protested the school’s trans-inclusionary policies
The school board in Loudoun County ruled in August that transgender students could use facilities and participate in school groups, like sports, associated with their gender identity.
A few months later, the wealthy Virginia county was making national headlines for a case involving a rape of a girl student by a teenage boy dressed in a skirt in the women’s rest room at school.
That student was later transferred to another school, where he is said to have struck again.
Youngkin had used the case and protests erupting in Loudoun to make promises that he would put an end to teach any CRT courses in the state and fully investigate the rape case after it was found that the school board new about it when they denied such an event could take place.
Youngkin, a businessman before running for office, said he is ready to get to work for Virginians in ‘real people time, not government time.’
He is expected to be inaugurated on January 15, 2022.
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