WASHINGTON — Virginia’s competitive gubernatorial race is now less than a month away, and here’s what’s at stake — issue-wise — for both parties as we look ahead to the 2022 midterms.
Does Covid remain a key rallying force for Democrats? We saw Dems lean into vaccine mandates and masks in the California recall, and they’re doing the same in Virginia.
In last week’s second and final debate, which one of us moderated, Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe went after GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin over the Republican’s opposition to a vaccine mandate.
“He has said, Day 1 as he's governor, masks off and no vaccination requirements,” McAuliffe said at the debate.
Youngkin countered, “I, in fact, have asked everyone in Virginia to please get the vaccine. But I don't think we should mandate it.”
Is abortion a liability for Republicans — or not? With the U.S. Supreme Court set set to hear a crucial case for the future of Roe v Wade this upcoming term, McAuliffe also has seized on Youngkin’s opposition to abortion rights — except in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.
“I would like to see Roe v. Wade enshrined in our [state] constitution because I'm scared of Donald Trump and the people like Glenn Youngkin,” McAuliffe said at the debate.
Youngkin said he is against having a right to an abortion added to the state’s constitution.
Can the GOP sidestep Trump? This race has Republican strategists hoping that Youngkin can pave a way for future GOP candidates to keep the former president at arm’s length when he’s not on the ballot.
“The Trump years were just terrible for Republicans in Virginia,” Tucker Martin, a GOP consultant who worked for former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, told NBC’s Henry Gomez and Alex Seitz-Wald. “He blotted out the sun. He made it impossible to get anybody's message across. Every campaign in the state was just a proxy vote on how you feel about Donald Trump, which, if you're in North Dakota, is a great deal for Republicans. If you're in Virginia? Horrible deal.”
“Glenn just benefits from there suddenly being oxygen again,” Martin added. “He can be himself. He can speak to voters. They’re listening.”
When one of us asked Youngkin if he’d support Trump in 2024, Youngkin replied, “Who knows who's gonna be runnin' for president in 2024” — before adding that he’s support Trump if he became the nominee.
Just how potent are race and schools in the suburbs? Finally, the Youngkin campaign has tried to peel off suburban voters by seizing on this line from McAuliffe in last week’s debate:
“I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
And Youngkin has been running ads on McAuliffe’s comment.
Democrats still have plenty of work to do on their reconciliation bill
What resulted from last week’s long hours, negotiations and conflict on Capitol Hill was that Democrats re-linked the infrastructure and reconciliation bills — with the Biden White House’s assistance.
But the reality of that re-linkage is that Democrats still don’t have a price tag for their reconciliation package, and they haven’t yet decided which programs stay and which ones don’t.
“This is a long and complicated process which is dealing with the most consequential piece of legislation probably since the New Deal in the Great Depression. It's a big deal. And it's not going to happen overnight,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on “Meet the Press” yesterday.
