Just ahead of the first Virginia governor’s debate, the Washington Post Editorial Board endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe, who served as the 72nd Virginia governor from 2014 to 2018, “notched a string of successes in his first four-year term” and has an “ambitious blueprint for a second term focused on education and equity.”
McAuliffe is running against far-right Republican Glenn Youngkin, who has received endorsements from extremist politicians in Virginia and disgraced former President Donald Trump — one Youngkin on multiple occasions has said he was “honored” to receive.
While Terry McAuliffe’s “pro-business, moderately left-of-center priorities are in step” with Virginia, Youngkin has promoted Trump’s “Big Lie”, vowed to strip funds from Virginia’s public schools, and promised to “go on offense” against reproductive freedom if elected.
McAuliffe would be “a dynamic chief executive;” Youngkin would be “a grave error.”
Washington Post Editorial Board: Terry McAuliffe for Virginia governor
By Washington Post Editorial Board | 9/16/21
Key Points:
- “Democrat Terry McAuliffe makes a persuasive case as he campaigns to reclaim his former job as governor of Virginia, which does not allow consecutive terms in office. Having notched a string of successes in his first four-year term, which ended in 2018, Mr. McAuliffe — shrewd, pragmatic and tireless — has advanced an ambitious blueprint for a second term focused on education and equity.”
- “By contrast, the Republican nominee, Glenn Youngkin, a candidate making his first run for political office, has played footsie with the scurrilously anti-democratic ‘big lie’ that election fraud propelled President Biden into office; signaled he would roll back gun-safety laws and abortion access; equivocated on same-sex marriage; and called Medicaid expansion, which provided health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Virginians, ‘sad.’”
- “Even Republicans in Richmond privately admire Mr. McAuliffe’s salesmanship prowess. As governor, he made 35 trips overseas to drum up business and jobs — one every six weeks, on average — and dozens more domestically. His job-creating coups included luring Nestlé USA to transfer its U.S. headquarters to Rosslyn from California, and CoStar Group to Richmond from North Carolina. When he left office in January 2018, the state’s jobless rate of 3.6 percent was significantly below the national average.”
- “In the current campaign, for which voting starts Friday and culminates Nov. 2, Mr. McAuliffe has proposed a sweeping, detailed agenda — a sharp contrast with Mr. Youngkin, who for months had almost no policy proposals beyond a commission to tighten rules on nearly nonexistent election fraud. The McAuliffe plan’s centerpiece is a $2 billion investment in education, which dovetails with his pro-business agenda; good schools attract good businesses.”
- “It’s critical that Virginians recall that Mr. McAuliffe is a dynamic chief executive with a proven track record for advancing prosperity. Mr. Youngkin is an untested politician who would guide the state away from the moderation it has pursued, and profited from, for more than a decade. Electing him would be a grave error.”
Read the full endorsement here.
###
Published: Sep 16, 2021