For the first time since 2009, Virginia voters elected a Republican governor as Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe; the upset comes just a year after Joe Biden dominated the state in the presidential election. The Virginia results on Nov. 2 highlighted an Election Day that was troubling to Democrats nationwide, particularly in swing states like Nevada.
Many voters may have opted to go with Youngkin due to McAuliffe’s thoughts on curriculum and certain books being read in school. Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Beloved” triggered a movement to allow parents to have their children opt out of reading certain books in their coursework. McAuliffe, as governor in 2017, had vetoed that effort, according to the Washington Post. According to Realclearpolitics, McAuliffe recently said that he didn’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.
“The parents had the right to veto books … also take them off the shelves,” McAuliffe said in a debate in September. “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions.”
Youngkin felt otherwise, saying parents should be in charge of their child’s education.
The question of parental involvement in education – whether it’s over which books are assigned or whether critical race theory is endorsed – may take on momentum in other swing states. Locally, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto declined to comment, but according to the Nevada Globe, she recently voted against an amendment that prohibits the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. The amendment still passed, however.
For his part, Youngkin said the vote signaled a new day in Virginia.
“Together, together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth,” he said, according to CBS News. “And friends, we are going to start that transformation on day one. There is no time to waste. Our kids can’t wait, we work in real-people time, not government time. So on day one, we’re going to work. We’re going to restore excellence in our schools.”
“This is the spirit of Virginia coming together like never before,” Youngkin said, as reported by NBC News. “For too long, we’ve been expected to shelve our dreams, to shelve our hope, to settle for low expectations. We will not be a commonwealth of low expectations. We’ll be a commonwealth of high expectations.”
