Democrats overplaying the Trump card in Virginia governor’s race

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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