Republican Glenn Youngkin and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) faced off Tuesday night in their second and final gubernatorial debate, an event filled with heated commentary about issues such as vaccine mandates and abortion alongside attempts to characterize each other as lying, extremist candidates.
The debate, which took place at Northern Virginia Community College’s campus in Alexandria, was reminiscent of the initial matchup between Youngkin and McAuliffe in that the topics of vaccine mandates and abortion illustrated clear-cut differences between the two candidates.
McAuliffe also made numerous references to former President Donald Trump, a strategy the Virginia Democrat has employed for months seemingly in an attempt to tie Youngkin to the former president in a blue-leaning state that decisively voted ten points in favor of President Joe Biden in 2020.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“We need leadership as governor, not trying to be a Trump wannabe,” McAuliffe said at one point during the debate as he motioned toward Youngkin. In another instance, McAuliffe said, “[Youngkin’s] extreme on abortion, election integrity, and all these other issues. He is bought and paid for by Donald Trump. He wants to bring Trump-style politics to Virginia, and we’re not going to allow it.”
The latter comment elicited a peak moment for Youngkin:
YOUNGKIN: Terry, you just made folks in Las Vegas a lot of money, and I know you love to go campaign there versus being here. But there’s an—
MCAULIFFE: I do love Las Vegas. Who doesn’t love Las Vegas?
YOUNGKIN: There’s an over and under tonight on how many times you’re going to say ‘Donald Trump,’ and it was ten, and you just busted through it. You’re running against Glenn Youngkin.
MCAULIFFE: And there’s a reason why.
YOUNGKIN: I know you wish you weren’t because the polls say I’m ahead, but you’re running against me. Let’s have Terry McAuliffe versus Glenn Youngkin, and let’s let Virginia voters decide who they want their next governor to be.
…
MCAULIFFE: He keeps invoking Trump. He’s endorsed four times.
YOUNGKIN: The only person who’s invoking Trump is you.
Despite being endorsed by Trump in June, Youngkin did not celebrate the endorsement as many other Trump endorsees have and he has barely mentioned the former president on the campaign trail.
McAuliffe, for his part, touted endorsements he received from “over two dozen prominent Republicans” due, he said, to his demonstrated abilities to overcome a budget deficit. McAuliffe, however, sparked Internet reactions when he specifically pointed to an endorsement from famous Never Trumper Bill Kristol.
“Tonight I have the leading conservative in America here, Bill Kristol, who has endorsed my campaign for governor,” McAuliffe said:
Terry McAuliffe: "Tonight, I have the leading conservative in America here, Bill Kristol, who has endorsed my campaign for governor." pic.twitter.com/N8e1eznV8D
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 28, 2021
The topic of coronavirus vaccines dominated the beginning of the debate as McAuliffe broached it in his opening remarks.
“I’m running against a candidate who actually has been spreading anti-vax rhetoric throughout the commonwealth of Virginia,” McAuliffe said. “We cannot move this economy forward and keep our schools open if we’re not getting our folks vaccinated. He doesn’t believe nurses and doctors and teachers should be vaccinated. I do.”
Debate moderator Chuck Todd of NBC then asked Youngkin about mandates as his first question: “Why should state teachers, healthcare workers, and other essential employees be allowed to do their jobs unvaccinated?”
Youngkin took his response time to quash McAuliffe’s “anti-vax” comment. “Well, just to reiterate, I actually believe that everyone should get the vaccine despite the fact it’s the most egregious untruth that my opponent continues to say about me. … It’s the best way for people to keep themselves safe.” He added, “I don’t think we should mandate it.”
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Youngkin also pointed to McAuliffe saying in August that he believes the government should “make life difficult” for those who choose not to take the vaccine. “We need those healthcare workers. We need people on the job. To make their life difficult? That’s no way to go serve Virginians,” Youngkin said. McAuliffe then accused Youngkin of “lying” and called his stance on vaccine mandates “disqualifying.”
Todd pressed Youngkin on mandates, asking, “Do you believe getting vaccinated for measles, mumps, or rubella is a personal choice for Virginians?” Youngkin replied that “data associated with those vaccines” must be considered and that while mandates for them “can be” acceptable, coronavirus vaccines, he asserted, should not be mandatory.
Near the beginning of the debate, third-party candidate Princess Blanding stood up from her seat in the audience and started yelling in protest about not being permitted to participate. The Liberation Party candidate yelled that her exclusion from the debate was racist and “not democracy,” and she was eventually escorted out of the auditorium.
Liberation party candidate Princess Blanding interrupts while protesting at being excluded from the debate. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
On the topic of abortion, Youngkin reiterated his position as pro-life except in cases of “rape or incest or the mother’s life is in jeopardy” and that he would support a “pain threshold bill” that outlaws abortion in the second trimester. Youngkin called McAuliffe the “most extreme abortion candidate in the country.”
McAuliffe replied, “There’s not a thing that Glenn Youngkin just said is true” and warned Youngkin — based on an undercover recording of him published in July — would “ban abortions and defund Planned Parenthood.”
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Virginia Democrat then reverted to his usual talking point that he has been a “brick wall” for women’s rights. When pressed on any restrictions McAuliffe would support on abortion, McAuliffe skirted the question, as he has in the past, saying only that he supports the laws “on the books today” in Virginia, which permit abortions in the second trimester.
On economic topics, McAuliffe pushed the false narrative that he inherited a “gigantic deficit” when he took office in 2014 and that he “left a half a billion dollar surplus” at the conclusion of his term in 2018. McAuliffe has for years persisted with this claim and has received three separate “mostly false,” “false,” and “false” fact check ratings from PolitiFact and four Pinocchios from the Washington Post for it. Youngkin on multiple occasions reiterated components of his “day one” tax reduction and jobs growth plan.
In perhaps the most talked-about comment of the debate, Youngkin chastised McAuliffe for vetoing a bill that would have permitted parents to remove controversial books from school libraries, to which McAuliffe replied, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach”:
Terry McAuliffe: "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." pic.twitter.com/7S15pTv1gY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 28, 2021
Tuesday’s debate comes as the off-year gubernatorial race — seen as somewhat of a bellwether for next year’s midterms — is tightening amid Youngkin gaining ground in recent polling and Cook Political Report changing its rating from “lean D” to “toss up.”
In one of the more recent public polls, coming out of University of Mary Washington (UMW) and taken September 7–13, Youngkin was ahead of McAuliffe by five points among likely voters, but McAuliffe led when factoring in all of the poll’s respondents. UMW political science professor Stephen Farnsworth assessed that the race “looks to be the closest statewide election in years.”
Election day takes place November 2, though early voting began September 17.
Watch the full debate here.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com.
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