On Tuesday, Nov. 2, Glenn Youngkin caused an upset in Virginia by becoming the first Republican to win the gubernatorial race in the state in over a decade. The GOP newcomer has arrived seemingly out of nowhere and has defined a pivotal moment in Virginia’s political history.
Glenn Youngkin is a self-proclaimed hard worker who believes “nothing was handed to him.” Yet, he somehow came upon a series of successes by attending Rice University on a basketball scholarship, ascending to corporate leadership and raising his poster-board family on a large property, which received a 95% tax reduction in 2020, according to the New York Times. But don’t be fooled by this rich man. He definitely, totally understands the struggles of many working Americans, because before his privilege kicked in, he worked at a diner (what horror).
Youngkin centered his campaign largely around education, containing his most head-turning proposed policy to “restore excellence in education” by banning critical race theory, despite there being little to no evidence that it was even being taught. This policy, if passed, will be very damaging for the youth of Virginia. Rather than providing students with a more complete and honest context of their country’s history, Youngkin chooses to deprive them of it for fear that they will hate white people. God forbid students learn about racism and start holding people accountable.
It is very telling based on Youngkin’s political donors the type of politician he is and the audience he’s catering to. Reflecting his long history of struggling for his accomplishments, Youngkin himself is his own top donor, contributing over $21 million to his campaign. Other top donor industry sectors include private, parochial and for-profit schools, “undetermined” industries and Waffle House. How trustworthy to have a governor primarily supported by himself, the hyper-religious, the anonymous, the profit-driven and the restaurant that is most known for having fights break out.
This election should be a wake-up call to Democrats to get out of their self-destructive habit of inaction fueled by their unearned over-confidence. Driven by the desire to remove Trump from office, Democrats were a powerful force in the 2020 presidential election. Riding the high from the momentous victory, it seems that Democratic politicians felt less pressure to push their voters to the polls this time around. Meanwhile, Democratic voters seemingly let their guard down, feeling that this election could not be nearly as significant as the previous one. This was furthered by the campaign of Youngkin’s opponent Terry McAuliffe, whose campaign was largely anti-Trump, a rather irrelevant tactic for someone no longer in office. Meanwhile it seems that Republican voters are making up for their loss by being more active in bringing in Republican politicians elsewhere.
This is the exact fault that caused former President Trump to win the race in 2016. Too many Democrats didn’t bother to vote because they thought there was no way someone like Trump could possibly win. But their inaction made it a possibility. If Democrats want to prevent potentially problematic Republicans from bringing in their radical and divisive policies, then they need to keep their head in the game and urge their constituents to vote, no matter how confident they are in their victory. They need to quit stopping in the race before reaching the finish line.
