Terry McAuliffe’s campaign strategy in the Virginia governor’s race has been to relentlessly link his opponent, businessman Glenn Youngkin, to former President Trump. …
To borrow a line from President Biden, McAuliffe only needs three words to make a sentence: a noun, a verb, and Donald Trump.
The strategy to nationalize the Virginia governor’s race might seem obvious, given that Trump was a one-man turnout machine for Democrats across the country, particularly in the suburbs where Democrats made massive gains. But it also runs against the dominant Democratic thinking during the Trump years: Democratic candidates largely avoided talking about Trump during his presidency, not feeling they had to remind voters of the proverbial elephant in the room. Instead, swing-district lawmakers like Virginia’s own Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger focused on kitchen table issues to woo persuadable swing voters to their side. CONTINUED
Josh Kraushaar, National Journal
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