Governor Glenn Youngkin’s dream of a statewide abortion ban and presidential campaign is dead as Democrats are expected to retain control of the Virginia Senate.
The projections:
BIG VA PROJECTION: Juan Pablo Segura lost the Election Day vote to Russet Perry in Loudoun County. We project SD-31 and the Virginia Senate for the Democrats
— Elections Daily (@Elections_Daily) November 8, 2023
In the VA Senate, Schuyler VanValkenburg (D) appears to have defeated Siobhan Dunnavant (R) in #SD16. If Russet Perry’s (D) small lead holds #SD31The Democrats would be guaranteed to retain the majority.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 8, 2023
What does this mean for Glenn Youngkin?
Big-money Republican donors, still looking for a Trump alternative in 2024, had been courting Youngkin, who would likely find himself in the Republican presidential primary if he were to flip the Virginia legislature and pass an abortion ban in the was supposed to sign into law, but none of that happened.
Election experts predicted after Youngkin’s victory to become governor that he could be the last Republican to win statewide in Virginia in a decade due to population growth and demographic shifts in the state. That projection appears to be more accurate than Gov. Youngkin’s smoke and sunshine declarations of a Republican victory.
The Republicans did not win in Virginia, as the 2023 election night looks more and more like a disaster for the Republican party. The Republicans lost the gubernatorial election in Kentucky. They will likely lose No. 1 in Ohio, and they could even lose the governor’s race in Mississippi.
The media continues to tell itself that the Republicans are coming back, but 2023 will be the sixth consecutive election night of underperformance and losses for the Republican party as the Dobbs decision continues to cost them elections.
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Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Pricing and professional memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association