It is fitting that Glenn Youngkin was elected governor of Virginia by voters on the same night as the Atlanta Braves won World Series.
Youngkin's campaign was dominated by public schools. Parents were outraged at the leftist curriculum. His victory over Terry McAuliffe, Democrat, can be seen as a triumph of the woke revolution.
After league officials made their home stadium the venue for the All-Star Game, the Braves won the last laugh. This was due to liberal fury at Georgia's election integrity law.
Though other issues certainly were in play, Youngkins campaign really caught fire when he tapped into sentimentsparticularly in vote-rich Northern Virginiathat government at all levels is not listening to the people.
When Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat who was shutting down schools in Virginia during COVID-19, planted the seeds. Students were forced to learn online via computers at home, and parents could hear what was being said for the first time. Schools were forcing children to learn critical race theory and gender identity ideology.
McAuliffe and liberal commentators insisted that such things were not happening. They also claimed parents were hallucinating. Parents flooded school board meetings, telling their stories of white children being shamed because they were skin-colored and minority students being denied success for the same reason.
Soon, other incidents were also reported. Schools that offered pornographic, graphic materials to their students (in the name, what? diversity?) upset parents. Students in classrooms and libraries.
The most shocking revelation was that Loudoun County school officials covered a sexual assault at a high school by a teenager boy. He had already been charged with a similar assault months before in a girls' restroom at another high school.
A student convicted recently of an earlier assault is described as being gender-fluid. Many parents believe that Loudoun County kept the matter quiet to avoid offending the sensibilities of social justice activists.
Amazingly, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the fray by issuing a memorandum issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland, which labeled parents who protested school board policies as domestic terrorists and criminals.
McAuliffe made a huge debate mistake in the middle of all this when he stated: I don't think parents should tell schools what to teach.
Youngkin did not shy away from the chance and was open to the controversy. McAuliffe, on the other hand, was determined to maintain his position until McAuliffe claimed he was misunderstood.
The election had already been tainted and the tide was turning. Youngkin's victory is noteworthy, as Virginia voted for Joe Biden by 10 points. In 12 years, there had not been a Republican win in a state race in Virginia.
Virginia's election results were a rejection of liberal overreach. They are on woke school policies and mask mandates and on a range of other governmental transgressions McAuliffe supported but Youngkin opposed.
The current White House occupant is also a key part of any discussion about election night 2021. McAuliffe grudgingly acknowledged Biden's declining popularity even in Virginia.
A NBC News poll conducted just before the election found that voters are strongly against Biden's party in regard to border security, inflation and crime, as well as getting things done.
That discontent does not stop at the Old Dominion's borders.
Voters rejected a proposal to dissolve the Minneapolis police department and transform it, rejecting the defund the movement. This was the epicenter of the rioting that erupted after George Floyd, a resident of Minneapolis, was taken into police custody.
According to reports, the socialist candidate for Buffalo mayor, New York, had won the Democratic nomination. However, she was defeated by a write in campaign by the incumbent, whom she beat in the primary.
At this point, Murphy appears to be holding onto a narrow victory. New Jersey Governor. Phil Murphy, a Democrat was the victim of the worst scare of his life in a state that is even more blue than Virginia. Jack Ciattarelli, a Republican, ran against mandates, and for lower taxes in his challenge to Murphy. Youngkin was the same.
Voters in all these places rejected an overreach by government at all levels - federal, state and local.
A national party may then take a step back and evaluate whether a change of direction is necessary.
National liberals seem to be sticking to their radical spending plans, as is the norm. They concluded that more socialism was the best option, given voter disapproval for their socialist agenda.
The Leftists seem to also be learning the wrong lessons from Virginia.
Jemele Hill, formerly of ESPN, and now of The Atlantic, stated: It's not the messaging folks. This country loves white supremacy.
White supremacy is not a popular choice after Virginia voters elected Winsome Sears as their lieutenant governor. This Jamaican immigrant will be the first African woman to hold the statewide office for Virginia.
It's also difficult to understand why Virginians elected Jason Miyares (the son of Cuban immigrants) to replace the current attorney general. He will be the first Latino to hold the statewide office.
Van Jones, a CNN commentator, was even more provocative that Hill.
Jones blasted that we will find out if we have seen the rise of the delta version of Trumpism after the Virginia election. Youngkin is the same disease as Parkinson's, but it spreads faster and can reach more people.
McAuliffe tried his best to tie Youngkin to the former President Donald Trump. He centered much of his campaign around that goal in the hope of invoking his favorite boogeyman to rile his base and propel him to victory. It didn't work.
Youngkin proved that it was possible to keep Trump voters loyal by supporting the America First agenda and talking about issues that matter to them personally. McAuliffe demonstrated that the left cannot win by running an anti-Trumpism campaign.
Social justice warriors have long criticized the Atlanta Braves' name and the fans who do the tomahawk chop during games. The club has just won the World Series.
Similar to the federal, state and local governments, they have been telling people how they should live their lives and asking them to put up or sit down if in disagreement. Voters won their World Series victory on Election Day.
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