Trump gloats as Virginia results come in

Former President Trump is gloating over Republican Glenn Youngkin’s lead in the Virginia governor’s race as results continue to trickle in.

In a statement Tuesday night, Trump said he didn’t even have to rally for Youngkin in the Virginia governor’s race because McAuliffe constantly tied his Republican rival to the former president. That ultimately boosted Youngkin’s standing heading into the Tuesday election, Trump said.

“It is looking like Terry McAuliffe’s campaign against a certain person named ‘Trump’ has very much helped Glenn Youngkin,” Trump said in a statement. “All McAuliffe did was talk Trump, Trump, Trump and he lost!” 

“I guess people running for office as Democrats won’t be doing that too much longer,” he added. “I didn’t even have to go rally for Youngkin, because McAuliffe did it for me. Thank you to the MAGA voters for turning out big!” he said.

Youngkin is on track to win the governor’s mansion after outperforming expectations in key parts of the Commonwealth. If he ultimately clinches the governorship, it will be a major upset to Democrats who have racked up a series of high-profile wins in Virginia over the past decade.

Throughout the campaign, McAuliffe sought to tie his opponent to Trump, a much-detested boogeyman for Democrats, hoping to replicate the kind of strategy that helped propel the party’s candidates to victory up and down the ballot in recent years.

Youngkin, however, often tried to avoid embracing the president too tightly, opting instead to focus his campaign on issues like transgender bathrooms in schools and the teaching of critical race theory.

While Trump endorsed Youngkin in the race, he never traveled to Virginia to rally alongside the GOP gubernatorial hopeful. The former president briefly addressed a so-called tele-rally for Youngkin on Monday night, during which he called the Republican candidate a “fantastic guy” who will “do a job like nobody can do.”