Republican Glenn Youngkin has won the election to become the next governor of Virginia. However, he is in a major upset, according to the projection of US media. He was only 2.1 points ahead of the Democrat Terry McAuliffe with the counting of 99% votes.
The presidency of Joe Biden has seen the ballot as a referendum, and the defeat will now unnerve all the Democrats. Mr. Biden has won with 10 points in Virginia during the presidential election. To cheer the fans, Republican Glenn Youngkin made a promise to work straight away to transform the state.
The current governor Ralph Northam was unable to stand up for re-election. Virginia does not allow its governor to serve for consecutive terms.
There is another good news for the Republicans. Their candidate, US Marine Winsome Sears, is about to become the first black female lieutenant governor in the state. The Republican candidate for Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares was also leading in the voting count. The Republicans are about to be closing on control of the House of Delegates of the state.
During other elections across the US, a Republican challenger in New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli, fought neck to neck with Phil Murphy, the Democratic governor. The voters of Minneapolis have rejected a proposal to replace the police department of the city with a new Department of Public Safety. The Democrat Eric Adams has won the mayoral election of New York City to replace Bill De Blasio. Pittsburgh has picked its first black mayor Ed Gainey, a democrat.
Michelle Wu, an Asian- American candidate in Boston, has been elected as the first mayor to be of that color to take the post. Mr. Youngkin is the first member of his party who has been elected to statewide office in the state. Mr. McAulife has campaigned on many cultural issues like abortion rights and voting reformation. But the critics of Democrats have hammered him for remarking about sending kids to school.
Mr. Biden has predicted the winning of his party for the first major election since he took office as president. But he has acknowledged the off-year is always hard to predict.
The campaign of McAuliffe has tried to liken the challenge to Donald Trump, who is quite unpopular in Virginia. But Mr. Youngkin has sought to appeal to the moderates while keeping Mr. Trump close enough.
His act of balancing is offering a template for the Republicans to seek to win back the suburban moderates. Mr. Trump also thanked his supporters for voting for Glenn Youngkin.
Credits: BBC
