Richmond, VA — Late last night, the Virginia GOP announced their nominee for governor: pro-Trump extremist Glenn Youngkin. Today, many Virginians and political observers across the country read and heard Youngkin’s name for the first time — and the main lesson was clear: the Republican nominee for governor of Virginia is a far-right extremist complete with Donald Trump’s stamp of approval.
Take a look at the coverage Youngkin’s rigged GOP convention victory was met with below.
ABC News: Throughout the campaign, none of the major Republican candidates even attempted to find an anti-Trump lane. One candidate who calls herself "Trump in heels" — a state senator who has said the Jan. 6 insurrection was justifiable because of COVID restrictions — threatened to run as an independent if, in her view, the state GOP "steals this election." [...]
Winning [in Virginia] this year will mean owning not just Trump but the messaging he's established as mantra inside the GOP.
Vice News: Glenn Youngkin won the Republican nomination for Virginia governor by pushing the false narrative that 2020 was marred by voter fraud.
Politico: In order to win over the party activists in the primary, Youngkin and the rest of the gubernatorial field embraced much of Trump’s legacy. One of Youngkin’s earliest moves in the race was to introduce an “election integrity task force” — an unmistakable response to Trump’s repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He also promoted a clip of the former president praising him during the trade war with China.
The New York Times: Mr. Youngkin said last month it was “a sad thing” that Medicaid was expanded in Virginia under the Affordable Care Act, one of the signature achievements of the current Democratic governor, Ralph Northam. [...]
At the recent candidates’ forum, Mr. Youngkin aligned himself with Mr. Trump’s lies about a rigged 2020 election, declaring “voter integrity” a top issue and referring to Dominion voting machines — the subject of conspiracy theories on the far right — as “the most important issue” of the campaign.
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Youngkin was endorsed by Corey Stewart, who ran as the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018 while courting white nationalists. The Youngkin campaign has not addressed the endorsement.
Democrats quickly seized on Youngkin’s win. “In Glenn Youngkin, the Virginia GOP has nominated a far-right extremist who has demonstrated allegiance to Donald Trump,” Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker said in a statement. “Virginians have repeatedly rejected Trump’s dangerous extremism - and this November, they will reject Glenn Youngkin, too.”
New York Magazine: In a simpler time, former Virginia House speaker Kirk Cox would have been the odds-on favorite in this race, particularly as it was decided by hard-core party activists in a convention setting. [...] Instead, Cox finished a poor fourth behind three candidates who conspicuously pledged fealty to Donald J. Trump and his obsessions. To be clear, Cox wasn’t a Never Trumper at all, but he accepted the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election, and that was enough to put the RINO label on his candidacy.
The Washington Post: State Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Swecker quickly branded Youngkin “a far-right extremist who has demonstrated total allegiance to Donald Trump.”
NBC News: [Youngkin] launched an "election integrity" task force with a five-point plan, ideas that resonate with voters who believe Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. In the final days before the convention, Youngkin campaigned with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has become a prominent Trump ally.
Virginia Mercury: [Youngkin] launched his campaign with a focus on election security and has refused to say whether he believes President Joe Biden won the election legitimately. [...]
In the final days of the race, Youngkin tacked to the right, campaigning with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the most outspoken enablers of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. At a campaign stop in Chesterfield, Youngkin praised Cruz “for standing up for what is right and never, ever, ever folding.”
The Wall Street Journal: Mr. Youngkin has his work cut out for him, as would any GOP nominee, longtime Virginia Republican officials say: Virginia Democrats have enjoyed a plethora of victories since 2017. Mr. Trump lost the state by 10 percentage points in 2020, about double his losing margin in 2016. [...]
Mr. Youngkin used Mr. Trump in his ads leading up to the convention and earned the endorsement of Corey Stewart, a 2017 Republican gubernatorial candidate whose unsuccessful campaign focused on his support for Confederate emblems.
VPM News: Youngkin’s first policy proposal took a cue from Trump’s rhetoric in the form of a “Election Integrity Task Force.” [...] Youngkin stumped alongside U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who led the effort in the Senate to object to the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. [...]
Pressed on whether he personally believed false claims of widespread voter fraud, Youngkin hedged.
Washington Examiner: Virginia Democrats on Monday wasted no time in painting Youngkin in a negative light.
“In Glenn Youngkin, the Virginia GOP has nominated a far-right extremist who has demonstrated total allegiance to Donald Trump," said Democratic state party Chairwoman Susan Swecker. "Throughout this campaign, Youngkin has advanced Trump’s dangerous election conspiracy theories, opposed critical COVID-19 relief for working families and small businesses, and threatened to gut Virginians’ health care. Virginians have repeatedly rejected Trump’s dangerous extremism — and this November, they will reject Glenn Youngkin too."
CBS News: In a statement, the Democratic Governors Association called Youngkin "an out-of-touch and toxic candidate that's running on an extreme agenda that includes supporting Trump's false conspiracies about the 2020 election, opposing the critical federal COVID-19 relief passed in the American Rescue Plan, and attacking Medicaid expansion."
The Washington Post: Former president Donald Trump wasted no time weighing in on the Virginia governor's race Tuesday morning, issuing an endorsement of freshly crowned GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin.
The Hill: Former President Trump on Tuesday formally endorsed Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin in Virginia's gubernatorial race less than a day after Youngkin's win at the state GOP convention.
Washingtonian: Though other candidates in the race were more enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump, Youngkin still made a play for the MAGA crowd. For example, according to the Associated Press, Youngkin made election integrity the central issue of his campaign [...]
Youngkin has so far not acknowledged the reality of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Virginia Business: During the convention race, focusing on party loyalists, Youngkin took stances viewed as friendly to supporters of former President Donald Trump. Youngkin said at a recent candidates’ forum that “voter integrity” was a major issue for his campaign — a nod to Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in 2020. Also, Youngkin was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the most prominent members of the U.S. Senate to attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s election. On Tuesday, Trump himself endorsed Youngkin.
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