With 99 percent of Loudoun County precincts reporting, Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin has outperformed expectations against Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe in the suburban Democratic stronghold.
Roughly two hours after polls closed, McAuliffe leads with 55 percent of the vote (87,016 votes) to Youngkin’s 44.5 percent (70,414 votes). The roughly ten-point split serves an encouraging sign for the Youngkin camp considering recent electoral trends: President Joe Biden bested incumbent Donald Trump by 24 points (61-37) in 2020 in Loudoun and Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie by 20 points (40-60) in the county in Virginia’s 2017 gubernatorial contest.
Loudoun took center stage in the education debate in recent weeks in the wake of the bombshell Daily Wire report that a female student was sexually assaulted in a school bathroom by a skirt-wearing male student. Parents lashed out at the Loudoun County school-board after the incident became public, accusing the board and administrators of covering up the assault.
Youngkin spent the last leg of the campaign trail engaging concerned parents and defending their right to be involved in their children’s education. During a debate against Youngkin, McAuliffe made a comment that galvanized many parents into opposition against him. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” the former Virginia governor said.
McAuliffe attempted to backtrack from his statement in a subsequent ad, claiming that he believes parents should have a seat at the table in public education and promising to increase investment in the Virginia school system.
In his last “Parent Matter” campaign rally Monday night, Youngkin visited Loudoun County, attracting an animated crowd estimated to be in the thousands.