Updated
Glenn Youngkin won the election in Virginia. He prevailed against the Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
The Republican’s victory in the gubernatorial elections is already fixed, according to the US media.
REUTERS
Demokrat Terry McAuliffe.
REUTERS
In Virginia, the Republicans won a victory over the Democrats.
Ex-President Trump supported winner Glenn Youngkin in the election campaign.
The defeat of the Democrats is seen as a setback for US President Joe Biden.
The Republican Glenn Youngkin won the gubernatorial election in the US state of Virginia, according to projections by US television stations. Youngkin narrowly beat his rival Terry McAuliffe of the Democrats in Tuesday’s election by 2.7 percentage points. The gubernatorial election was seen as a test of sentiment for US President Joe Biden and his Democrats. The Democrats were confident of victory – now they are experiencing a disaster. A Republican becomes governor of Virginia. In New Jersey, the counting is still going on – it’s a dramatic neck-and-neck race. The votes are a wake-up call for Biden – and a victory for Trump.
The 54-year-old Youngkin was supported in the election campaign by ex-President Donald Trump – even if he publicly distanced himself from him and focused on moderate voters. A head-to-head race had already emerged before the election, but in the summer the 64-year-old Democrat McAuliffe was still ahead. US President Joe Biden particularly tried to link the Republican candidate in Virginia to Trump.
«Trump in Khakihosen»
“Terry is up against a supporter of Donald Trump,” said Biden at a campaign rally in Arlington. McAuliffe also tried to move his political opponent close to Trump and called him, for example, “Trump in khaki pants”. Shortly before the polling stations closed, Biden was confident of victory. “We will win. I think we’ll win in Virginia, ”he said at the climate summit in Glasgow. It landed back in Washington around the same time as Youngkin’s victory was announced.
For the Republicans in Virginia, the question was also whether they could score points with moderate swing voters in rural areas. McAuliffe’s defeat in the previously democratically ruled Virginia is a serious setback for the Democrats and a bad omen for the mid-term elections to the US Congress in November next year.
Defeat for Joe Biden
The election is considered a kind of litmus test for Biden, who was elected to the White House a year ago. His approval ratings are worse than ever since he took office. He has long tried to get two investment packages through Congress. Biden has so far failed because of wing battles in his own democratic party. According to observers, the defeat in the election in Virginia is also to be seen as a receipt for it.
US President Joe Biden won the state by ten percentage points in the presidential election last year. Youngkin portrayed his opponent in the election campaign as part of a political elite and benefited from McAuliffe’s testimony in a debate that parents should have little influence on school curricula. The Republican candidate also managed to address supporters of former President Donald Trump and at the same time win over voters in the suburbs who reject the ex-president.
How great the meaningfulness of the election results in Virginia and New Jersey is, however, is open. After Trump was elected president in 2016, Democrats won the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey. In contrast, the Republicans won the gubernatorial elections in both states after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008. In Virginia, governors are not allowed to run for two consecutive terms. But you can – like McAuliffe – compete a second time later. The current governor is Democrat Ralph Northam. The state borders on the US capital Washington.
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(AFP/bla)