From 2014 to 2018, Terry McAuliffe was the governor of Virginia. Under his rule, the state steadily moved towards authoritarian socialism. In 2018, he did not run for reelection, and Ralph Northam was elected governor. If Northam was determined to outdo his predecessor’s authoritarian leadership style, he was successful. In the current Virginia election, Northam did not run again and McAuliffe did run for his old seat. McAuliffe was the chairman of the DNC from 2001-2005 and the co-chair of the 2008 Clinton campaign. McAuliffe is a strong supporter of abortion, seemingly with no restrictions whatsoever. As governor, he supported the use of license plate readers by police, and he vetoed a bill that would have limited their use. In a recent gubernatorial debate, McAuliffe proudly said that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Republican Glenn Youngkin used this gift to boost his campaign, even beginning to beat McAuliffe in some polls down the final stretch.
Still, the latest polls, pundits, and even this author all had McAuliffe winning this election. Until a few days ago, the millions of participants on the betting site PredictIt.org also had the Democrat winning by a very safe margin.
Polls for the election between Youngkin and McAuliffe ended at 7pm. With 95% of the votes counted, Youngkin leads by 3 points. That said, the race may still flip later tonight, tomorrow, or next week. Crazier things have happened. Republican Winsome Sears won the election for Lt. Governor. She is the first black female Lt. Governor in the state’s history. The Republicans also appear to have taken over the Virginia House.
For the past few years, progressive socialists have steadily gained more ground throughout the united states. The anti-freedom left controls nearly every influential institution in the union, from media to schools to entertainment and everything in between. I have been begging pro-liberty Americans to acknowledge this unsettling truth for years, asking them to concentrate on saving one or two states while we still can. Unfortunately, the large majority of conservatives remain in denial and believe that they can ‘save’ their increasingly socialist states, even California and New York.
Abortion
While the bill to make third-trimester abortions much easier to conduct narrowly failed due to Northam’s terrible verbal mishap, the state did recently pass a slew of pro-abortion laws. Women in Virginia can now receive an abortion from a nurse practitioner or a nurse-midwife. Ultrasounds are no longer required prior to abortions in Virginia. At the moment, babies can be killed one second before being born, but three doctors do need to sign off on the procedure. With Republicans controlling the state for the time being, this requirement may not be removed very easily.
Gun control
Virginia’s leftist government is increasingly passing gun control laws that violate the natural rights to self-defense and property. In 2020, five new laws restricted the rights that foolhardy gun owners believe are ‘protected by the 2nd amendment’.
The politicians who run the government have made it very clear that they are hellbent on continually violating the gun rights of peaceful people. Youngkin claims that he supports gun rights, and we will soon see whether he means it.
The trend in party control
The Democrats control all branches of the Virginia government. The last time the Republicans had total control was 2013, and it’s been all downhill since then. Northam won the 2018 governor race by 9 percentage points, which is considered a blowout in politics.
Education
The right of parents to determine what type of education their children receive was likely the most important factor in the election. As McAuliffe made it clear that he believed politicians and government agents should have total control over education, he began to lose the election. Youngkin has promised to set up at least 20 charter schools throughout the state, giving parents more choice and teachers more accountability and competition.
This election acts as one of the first bellwethers for the midterm elections in 2022. If the voters in the rest of the united states rejected radical authoritarian socialism and radical progressivism as the voters of Virginia did today, the Democrats could lose control of Congress. That said, Republicans have demonstrated time and again that they support many of the same progressive policies when they control Congress.
In other elections today, Democrat Eric Adams has won the NYC mayoral race. Michelle Wu, who ran on a very progressive platform has won the Boston mayoral race. Surprisingly, Republican Ciattarelli leads progressive Democrat incumbent Phil Murphy by a few points with 54% of the vote in. Republican Paul Callaghan defeated the incumbent Democrat mayor of Rochester, New Hampshire in an upset victory.
The biggest upset of the election is a trucker named Edward Durr (R) beating Steve Sweeney (D), the New Jersey Senate President. Durr reportedly spent under $1,000 on his entire campaign. If the Democrats don’t find some ballots soon, this will go down in history as one of the great election upsets to ever occur.
We will update this article periodically.
Bottom line: I do not think that Youngkin will save Virginia or the united states from socialism. Those who want to save a portion of the union should move to New Hampshire and stop focusing on other states. At best, Youngkin will slow down the progression towards authoritarian socialism in Virginia.
