Things are heating up in Virginia’s gubernatorial race and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe is losing more support by the day. The Hampton Roads Black Caucus just endorsed Republican Glenn Youngkin over the weekend and McAuliffe took the opportunity to belittle and mock the group.
Youngkin tweeted that he felt “honored and humbled” to receive such support and that it reflects their platform to bring down the cost of living and cut taxes for the people working hard. The endorsement comes as a huge blow to McAuliffe’s campaign as the HRBC previously backed him in his 2013 bid for governor. They also endorsed Gov. Ralph Northam in his 2017 campaign, as well as Cheryl Turpin, a Democrat who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018-2020.
HRBC wrote in a 2016 Facebook post that they speak truth to power regardless of a political party and that they engage with both Democrats and Republicans who hold local office because they are making the decisions that affect our everyday lives.
While the group has previously endorsed Democrats, McAuliffe’s campaign spokeswoman Christina Freundlich tried to downplay the group as a right-wing organization after they announced their endorsement of Youngkin.
“I love it when the Youngkin team tweets HUGE NEWS about a Republican group endorsing their Republican candidate,” Freundlich tweeted.
Youngkin campaign spokesman Christian Martinez, however, pointed out that McAuliffe, a 40-year career politician, is looking to diminish any group that dares question his authority or disagrees with him. He emphasized why McAuliffe was never fit to be governor in the first place and said he was never meant to be a leader.
Martinez referred to instances of McAuliffe yelling at a sheriff for calling out radical anti-police groups, telling parents they shouldn’t have a say in their kid’s education, implementing harsh vaccine mandates in workplaces, and “questioning the legitimacy of a historical Black organization simply for not endorsing him.”
McAuliffe even tried to paint Youngkin as a “Trump minion” during a recent CNN interview, which surprisingly backfired on him. It seems that the Trump talking points aren’t even sitting well with many CNN hosts anymore, especially with Biden already underwater in the state.
Host Erin Burnett asked McAuliffe if his attacks on Youngkin were “wrong” regarding the Trump ties and pointed to many instances where he was not doing “Trump things.” He brought up the fact that Youngkin said he had not talked to Donald Trump about holding a possible rally in Virginia and that he would’ve voted to certify the election. Burnett went on to say that he has not embraced any part of the MAGA movement that would be consistent with recalling the election. Even Trump himself has said that Youngkin hasn’t embraced him.
“So, when you hear that, I mean, are you wrong to be calling him wannabe Trump? I mean, he is going against Trump on — on election and certification,” Burnett asked.
Democrats aren’t used to getting called out over their Trump derangement syndrome, which sent McAuliffe off the rails on the CNN host.
“Come on, Erin. He’s not going against Trump. I mean, through the whole campaign, he’s talked about election integrity. Come on. For eight, nine months, that’s been his number one thing he’s talked about!” McAuliffe fumed.
McAuliffe’s Zoom call then awkwardly lost connection while he remained on the screen without audio. Burnett then awkwardly ended the interview and moved on but it was enough to prove what Martinez has been saying all along. McAuliffe was never fit to be a governor.
