Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 192
November Surprises
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Washington Post: “Before securing the GOP nomination for Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin sidestepped questions about whether President Biden had legitimately won the White House — something followers of former president Donald Trump doubt.”
“But days after winning both the nomination and Trump’s endorsement, Youngkin appeared to change his rhetoric.”
Said Youngkin: “I have said before that Joe Biden was legitimately elected our president.”
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has ordered the special runoff election between Susan Wright (R) and Jake Ellzey (R) in Texas’ 6th Congressional District to be held on July 27, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Josh Kraushaar: “From the Republican stronghold of Texas to Democratic-leaning Virginia to blue New Mexico, Republicans have been rallying behind traditional candidates in the first wave of nominating fights taking place in 2021.”
“All the successful candidates have been supportive of Trump (he’s endorsed two of them) but have avoided the extreme rhetoric and conspiracy theorizing that defined his presidency.”
“If Trump doesn’t sabotage the interests of his own party, Georgia-style, it’s easy to see the stirrings of a Republican rebound, as voters choose electable standard-bearers in unlikely places.”
The Democratic Governors Association launched 15 and 30-second ads aimed at tying Virginia gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin (R) to former President Trump.
They also launched a new website, TrumpFirstVirginiaSecond.com.
Cook Political Report: “Youngkin winning is certainly encouraging good news for Republicans, but Democrats still have the recent history and ideological shift in the state on their side. We initially rated this race Likely Democrat, and for now we are keeping it there until we know officially who the Democratic nominee is after the June 8 primary.”
“While it’s McAuliffe, who was barred from running for a second consecutive term, is the obvious frontrunner, there’s a question of what Black turnout could be in November as well given the former governor is running against two African-American women candidates in former state Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy and state Sen. Jennifer McClellan who are looking to make history as the first Black female governor in U.S. history. And we need to see data that we just don’t have now on how a McAuliffe vs. Youngkin race starts out.”
A new UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll finds just 36% of registered voters in the state said they would vote to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the same percentage of support found in a survey in late January.
In comparison, 49% of voters oppose removing the governor from office.
However, Democratic voters polled “also overwhelmingly favored having a prominent Democratic replacement candidate on the recall ballot in case Newsom was ousted from office, putting them at odds with efforts by their state party and Newsom’s campaign to prevent that from happening.”
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Former President Donald Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” of Glenn Youngkin (R) in the Virginia race for governor.
Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin (R) “will be a fascinating test case ahead of next year’s midterm elections: Can a wealthy GOP outsider — who has embraced Trump, campaigned on election integrity and declined to say that Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was legitimate — win in blue Virginia, especially in its suburbs?,” NBC News reports.
“Or now that Trump is out of the White House and off of Twitter, are Democratic and suburban voters less fired up in Virginia than they were four years ago?”
“Glenn Youngkin, the multimillionaire businessman who sought to cast himself as a political outsider with the best chance to challenge Democratic power, will represent Republicans in the race to become Virginia’s next governor,” the Richmond Times Dispatch reports.
“Fueled by his own fortune, Youngkin, former co-CEO of a global investment firm, used the biggest war chest in the race, a limited public record and in-person campaigning to overcome tough odds. He will become the face of the state party as it heads into a pivotal November election, when the GOP will try to end its banishment from the Executive Mansion since Bob McDonnell left office in 2014.”
A New York Times editorial:
“All of the candidates in the June 22 Democratic primary are concerned with the welfare of their city and have thoughtful ideas about how to better it. It is Kathryn Garcia who best understands how to get New York back on its feet and has the temperament and the experience to do so. Ms. Garcia has our endorsement in perhaps the most consequential mayoral contest in a generation.”
“Voters could be forgiven for knowing little about Ms. Garcia. The pandemic has, to an alarming degree, hustled the hustings out of the neighborhoods and onto Zoom. The early polls in the race show that simple name recognition can have a big impact — on the early polls. Many primary voters say they haven’t made up their minds. So we’d like to help them.”
With 95% of the votes in for the Virginia GOP gubernatorial nomination — but before any candidates have been eliminated in the coming rounds of ranked choice voting — VPAP reports that Glenn Youngkin leads the race with 32%, followed by Pete Snyder (R) at 26%, and Amanda Chase at 21%.
Clare Malone: “Yang’s surprising dominance hasn’t just been luck. He has cannily deployed his fame, charisma, and hustle, bringing his very modern celebrity to a field otherwise low on name recognition and charm.”
“But another part of his success, perhaps more central than most voters realize, must be credited to his team of advisers and close supporters. Many of the city’s most well-connected, savviest strategists have bet on Yang, and in less than two months, eight years after rejecting the legacy of Bloomberg for someone defiantly to his left, New York may very well elect an heir to the billionaire ex-mayor’s worldview.”
Washington Post: “Voters appeared to turn out in large numbers — by convention standards — although the party did not have a total available by Saturday evening.”
“A crew of about 60 will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday to tally the ballots by hand, a method three gubernatorial contenders demanded amid fears that vote-counting software the party was considering could be rigged against them. Determining a winner will be no simple matter. Convention rules require the nominee to secure a majority, not a mere plurality. [The ranked-choice] ballots will be tallied over and over, with the lowest vote-getter dropping off after each round.”
Wall Street Journal: “Virginia Republicans are picking their nominee at a convention via a ranked-choice voting system, with delegates gathering to make their choices at dozens of locations around the state. Results aren’t expected to be tallied and made public until next week.”
“Former Virginia GOP officials — including those from the state’s northern parts, where proximity to Washington, D.C., and growth have helped accelerate widespread Democratic victories — say Republicans risk a Democratic win if they nominate a candidate too closely aligned with Mr. Trump.”
The Hill: Virginia GOP set for wild, unpredictable convention.
Former Major League Baseball player and manager Bobby Valentine “is taking a swing at politics, announcing that he’s running for mayor of his Connecticut hometown,” ESPN reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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