The gubernatorial election in Virginia between Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe was too near name after polls closed Tuesday evening, in accordance with NBC Information.
Youngkin held a slight lead over McAuliffe within the early returns. Polls closed at 7 p.m. ET.
McAuliffe, 64, and Youngkin, 54, polled neck and neck within the weeks main as much as the commonwealth’s race to succeed Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.
McAuliffe, a longtime shut pal and advisor to former President Invoice Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, aimed to make a comeback. He had served as governor from 2014 to 2018 for the commonwealth, which bans governors from in search of consecutive phrases. He was additionally combating to proceed a Democratic profitable streak in Virginia statewide races that started in 2012.
“We have had an excellent eight-year run right here,” McAuliffe stated through the first gubernatorial debate final month, discussing Democratic energy within the state. “Now we have obtained, you look what’s occurred on this state over the past eight years, open and welcoming all people. Tons of of 1000’s of recent jobs. We moved ahead, we made our state open and welcoming. We’re not going again.”
Youngkin, a political newcomer who made a fortune throughout his 25-year tenure at international funding agency Carlyle Group, noticed his marketing campaign exceed expectations, together with his outsider standing and in depth enterprise background interesting to Virginians involved in regards to the state economic system.
“I am not a politician, and I definitely do not have the 120 years of mixed political baggage that my opponents have,” Youngkin stated in a press release asserting his candidacy in January.
Virginia’s gubernatorial race was one of many first main statewide elections within the nation since President Joe Biden took workplace. It was additionally one of many final earlier than Democrats gear as much as defend their razor-thin majorities within the Senate and Home of Representatives in subsequent yr’s midterm elections.
Within the different gubernatorial race being determined Tuesday, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy sought reelection, challenged by Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
Some consultants considered the Virginia race as a referendum on the occasion within the White Home and a bellwether of how that occasion will carry out within the 2022 contests.
“Virginia has turn out to be a number one political indicator for the midterm elections as a result of there are few statewide elections the yr after a presidential contest,” stated Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of political science on the College of Mary Washington in Virginia.
Each candidates scrounged for votes forward of Election Day as tighter-than-expected polling meant that the race would hinge on turnout of their partisan bases.
Over the previous two months, McAuliffe and Youngkin blanketed airways and digital areas with campaign ads through which they took jabs at each other and infrequently centered on nationwide points.
Promoting bills made up about half of McAuliffe’s $44.4 million and Youngkin’s $42.2 million marketing campaign battle chests.
McAuliffe’s costliest and most aired advertisements attacked his Republican opponent for his open opposition to abortion. Youngkin’s most aired and most expensive advertisements seized on McAuliffe’s objection to parental management in class curriculum.
However different points rocketed to the forefront of the dead-heat race as nicely.
The 2 candidates, who each say they’re totally vaccinated, maintained opposing positions on Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Whereas McAuliffe would require academics, college students and health-care employees to get vaccinated, Youngkin opposed mandates and argued that they’d power People who do not need to get vaccinated out of their jobs.
The candidates additionally butted heads over former President Donald Trump.
Trump endorsed Youngkin and praised him for his enterprise strategy to politics. However Youngkin saved his distance from Trump and his allies, declining to rally alongside them and saying he accepted the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election.
In the meantime, McAuliffe took each alternative to hyperlink his GOP opponent to the previous president. Citing their overlapping stances on Covid-19 mandates and demanding race concept, McAuliffe characterised Youngkin as a “Trump wannabe.”
Nonetheless, McAuliffe had his justifiable share of bother together with his personal occasion’s present president.
With Biden’s job approval rankings hitting low marks in Virginia, McAuliffe known as the president’s unpopularity a problem to his marketing campaign.
“As you realize, the president is unpopular in the present day, sadly, right here in Virginia, so we have to plow by means of,” McAuliffe stated at a digital rally, Axios reported.
