AP VoteCast: Youngkin win built by small gains in key groups

Republican Glenn Youngkin mobilized voters concerned about education and race, while making small gains with suburban voters and other key groups to help his party rebound from Donald Trump’s poor showing in Virginia last year and win the governor’s race. A year after Democrat Joe Biden dispatched Trump in Virginia by 10 percentage points, Youngkin’s supporters, not Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s, were more fired up — 74% of them said they were “extremely” interested in the election, compared with 63% who voted for McAuliffe, according to AP VoteCast. McAuliffe called him a “Trump wannabe” — and Trump endorsed Youngkin — but it doesn’t look like all Virginia voters bought it. Close to half of Virginia voters said Youngkin supports Trump too much, while roughly as many said he supports Trump the right amount. SCHOOL DEBATE DECISIVE FOR MANY Schools became a major focus of the governor’s race for Youngkin, who localized a nationwide issue after McAuliffe said during a debate that parents shouldn’t “be telling schools what they should teach.” About a quarter of Virginia voters said the debate over teaching critical race theory in schools was the single most important factor in their vote for governor, and 72% of those voters backed Youngkin.