Former President Trump on Tuesday formally endorsed Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin in Virginia’s gubernatorial race less than a day after Youngkin’s win at the state GOP convention.
“Glenn is pro-Business, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Veterans, pro-America, he knows how to make Virginia’s economy rip-roaring, and he has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump said in a statement.
The former president went on to hit former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is the Democratic primary front-runner but has not yet won the party’s nomination.
Trump referred to McAuliffe as former President Clinton’s “longtime enabler” and “bagman.”
“He was responsible for many of the problems Virginia currently has. Virginia doesn’t need the Clintons or the Communist Chinese running the state,” he said in the same statement.
Virginia’s Democratic primary is slated for June 8.
McAuliffe responded to Trump’s endorsement with his own statement Tuesday.
“Glenn Youngkin spent his campaign fawning all over Donald Trump, and now Trump has returned the favor by wholeheartedly endorsing him. Virginians have rejected Donald Trump’s hate, conspiracy theories, and dangerous lies at every turn, and we’re going to do it again to his hand-picked, extreme right-wing candidate Glenn Youngkin this November,” McAuliffe said.
Youngkin said Monday on Twitter that he is “prepared to lead, excited to serve and profoundly humbled by the trust the people have placed in me. Virginians have made it clear that they are ready for a political outsider with proven business experience to bring real change in Richmond.”
Before launching his gubernatorial bid, Youngkin served as co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, for 25 years.
—Updated at 11:19 a.m.