President Trump predicted that Glenn Youngkin will be elected the next governor of Virginia – if his base goes to Virginia polls.
“If my base turns out, he’s going to win,” Trump said during a Fox News interview on Saturday.
Trump then urged his supporters to vote for Youngkin who is running on educational choice and job creation. “I hope they turn out; I really want them to turn out,” Trump said.
On Tuesday, Virginians will go to the polls to decide who their next governor will be.
Democrat nominee Terry McAuliffe was once considered a heavy favorite, but thanks to Younkin’s focused campaign and McAuliffe’s political blunders, the race has tightened significantly.
Most notably, McAuliffe made a statement that has come to haunt him during a debate against Youngkin.
When asked about recent parent protests at school board meetings in Virginia, McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
In response to McAuliffe’s apparent blunder, Trump said he thought it was “a tremendous mistake.”
“Look, McAuliffe made a tremendous mistake,” Trump said. “But it’s really probably not a mistake from his standpoint. He believes it.”
Trump then compared McAuliffe’s “mistake” to the infamous “basket of deplorables” comment made by Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign in which she derided Trump supporters, leading to the galvanization of Trump’s base.
“I heard that statement, I said is that going to be bad, is that going to be like ‘deplorable’?” Trump said. “Remember when Hillary made the statement ‘deplorable’? That’s not a nice word, and it blew up.”
The results of the Virginia gubernatorial race between Trump-endorsed Republican Glenn Youngkin and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe could have national repercussions.
Youngkin has gained steam in the last month of the race, in large part by riding the wave of anger from Virginia parents who are upset with what school boards, like the one in Loudoun County, Va., are teaching their children.
The Real Clear Politics Average of polls now shows that Glenn Youngkin has a narrow lead on McAuliffe. And a Fox News poll even has Youngkin up by eight points heading into Tuesday’s election.
The Virginia race is being closely watched by politicos to see if a Republican will benefit from the anti-Critical Race Theory rage, thus representing a bellwether race for the 2022 midterms.
We will know after Tuesday whether Youngkin’s pro-educational freedom platform prevails or if McAuliffe’s progressive educational agenda wins.