Why terry mcauliffe is winning

But it wasn't always that way. In the primary, he ran against one current and one former member of the caucus: Virginia state Senator Jennifer McClellan and former Virginia state delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy. McClellan had previously suggested McAuliffe could not excite and expand the base.

But in an interview with CNN, she noted that "voters chose him. That included focusing on small women and minority, Black-owned businesses. He really pushed to have a diverse cabinet She views McAuliffe as Democrats' best hope for expanding on the progress the party has made in the state legislature in recent years. Still, the Petersburg native detailed this election's unprecedented challenges.

And people are telling me how they're still looking for work and a job, how they're sitting at their dining room table with an open chair, because they've lost a loved one recently due to Covid. And it's hard to focus on an election when you're about to get evicted," she said. Grassroots Black activists turn up the heat.

Richmond-based organizer Chelsea Higgs Wise is not impressed with the McAuliffe campaign's Black outreach, dismissing the effort as talking points that won't amount to substantive policy changes unless grassroots activists like her keep the pressure on McAuliffe, should he be elected.

Higgs Wise, the executive director of Marijuana Justice, voiced several issues with the campaign, including "running on things that Black women started," and is especially frustrated with McAuliffe's reversal on ending qualified immunity, a legal principle that shields police officers from civil lawsuits. McAuliffe said he supported ending qualified immunity during the Democratic primary, but reversed his position after becoming the nominee.

Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist who has run races in Virginia and expects McAuliffe to win, said that either way, Democrats will need to look at the outcome of the election and the problems with letting it become about the culture war.

And maybe that focus will backfire, Perriello suggested. On a broader level, this race will be used as an indicator of a few different things: whether Democratic legislative gridlock will have an overpowering ripple effect at the ballot box, whether a message focused on critical race theory and education is a winning message for Republicans, and whether Democrats can use Trump against any candidate anywhere. On election eve, Trump had a closed press te le-rally for Youngkin.

Democrats have a three-seat advantage in the state Senate and a seat advantage in the House of Delegates—not huge majorities, in either case. If Republicans somehow pull off retaking both houses, DemsInDisarray will be a far too mild description of the state of play.

Youngkin has made his business experience a central part of his pitch to voters, arguing that his "common-sense, business-like execution" sets him apart from other candidates and enables him to lead the state. For instance, his campaign website says that he co-founded the Virginia Ready Initiative, which was built in response to the Covid pandemic and helps Virginians find new jobs. His campaign website also touts his "key role" in the Carlyle Group, claiming that he has helped fund the retirements of frontline public workers and supported hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

However, unnamed sources close to the global investment firm have contested the picture Youngkin has painted of his tenure there, Bloomberg reported.

The sources told Bloomberg that Youngkin actually made several bad investments that cost the company billions of dollars before he "flamed out" as CEO, citing "troubled forays" into hedge funds and energy investments over the past decade.

Nevertheless, Hult said Youngkin's business background has appealed to many Virginia voters who are concerned about the state's economy. Virginia has fared well in weathering the economic impacts of the Covid pandemic. Virginia also saw job gains of 2. Despite these figures, Hult said some Virginians remain concerned about job growth and the distribution of jobs throughout the state. Recent polling indicates that they believe Youngkin can best address that concern. Youngkin also leads among likely voters who view the economy as a major factor in their vote.

Several national issues have rocketed to the forefront of Virginia's gubernatorial race. Covid vaccine mandates top the list. The two candidates, who both say they are fully vaccinated, have consistently maintained opposing positions on vaccine mandates. McAuliffe would require Covid vaccines for students, teachers and health-care workers and would support businesses that imposed such mandates.

He launched a promotional campaign called "Virginia is for Vaccine Lovers" — a play off the state's tourism slogan — that aims to get every eligible Virginian vaccinated and has backed Biden's vaccine requirement for federal employees.

It's the best way for people to keep themselves safe. And I in fact have asked everyone in Virginia to please get the vaccine," Youngkin said in the first gubernatorial debate last month.

Youngkin has argued that McAuliffe's mandates will force teachers and health-care workers who oppose getting vaccinated out of their jobs.

We need people on the job. To make their life difficult, that's no way to go serve Virginians," Youngkin said in the first debate. Publicly, McAuliffe is confident in his campaign against Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin, but the finger-pointing and handwringing has begun among Democrats who are openly contemplating the possibility of a worst-case scenario on Nov.

The Democrat is locked in a dead heat against a political neophyte who is threatening to become the first Republican to win statewide office here in more than a decade. This, in a state Biden won by 10 percentage points last year. A McAuliffe loss on Tuesday would reverberate across the national political landscape, likely triggering all-out panic among Democrats. For Republicans, it would be a burst of confidence and a roadmap for finding their way through post-Trump divisions ahead of midterm elections, which will decide control of Congress and dozens of state capitals.

That exacerbated traditional headwinds for candidates whose party occupies the White House. Even before becoming governor, McAuliffe had been active in national politics for decades.