DPVA Chair Susan Swecker: “I think a very good roadmap and route has been laid for November”

Richmond, VA — Terry McAuliffe’s historic victory and widespread support provide a roadmap forward for beating Glenn Youngkin. According to a Virginia Public Access Project analysis, Terry won over 96% of Virginia’s precincts in his decisive victory on Tuesday night. Terry built a broad coalition of support across Virginia and is prepared to continue working to build the coalition that will defeat Donald Trump’s hand-picked candidate in November.

Now, new reporting from the Associated Press is highlighting just how critical Terry’s roadmap to victory will be. See key excerpts below, and read the full report here.

Associated Press: Dems: McAuliffe win shows ‘roadmap’ for beating Youngkin
By Sarah Rankin

Terry McAuliffe outperformed his own campaign’s expectations, winning every city and county as he coasted to victory in the Democratic primary for Virginia governor, an election his party said showed persistent enthusiasm among its voters even in a post-Trump era.

Some Democrats had fretted that voters wouldn’t turn out with McAuliffe, an establishment quasi-incumbent, as the frontrunner in the race and with Donald Trump out of office following a term that was disastrous for Virginia Republicans. But an unofficial accounting suggested that wasn’t the case.

While the counting of absentee ballots was still underway, preliminary numbers showed turnout was roughly 90% of 2017′s figures, in a contest seen as less competitive than the matchup four years ago between now-Gov. Ralph Northam and former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello.

“I think a very good roadmap and route has been laid for November,” said Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker, who called Tuesday’s turnout “robust.”

McAuliffe, who was previously in office from 2014 to 2018, won about 62% of the vote and will go on to face political newcomer Glenn Youngkin in what’s expected to be a competitive and expensive general election.

McAuliffe spokesperson Jake Rubenstein said Tuesday’s results, which he characterized as stronger than the campaign had expected, should be a “big wake-up call” for Youngkin.

“Virginians are fired up and unified behind Terry to stop Glenn from doing to Virginia what Donald Trump did to America,” Rubenstein said. [...]

Preliminary returns showed about 487,000 votes were cast for governor in Tuesday’s primary, compared with about 543,000 in 2017. Despite facing four opponents, McAuliffe took in over 300,000 votes, right in line with Northam in 2017. More votes were also cast this year than in the previous contested Democratic gubernatorial primary, in 2009, according to records maintained by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. [...]

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