Youngkin and McAuliffe attack each other digitally

An afternoon update on Virginia politics.

Oct 11, 2021

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Terry McAuliffe received the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance endorsement Monday

The Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance (VTCA) PAC announced their endorsement of Terry McAuliffe Monday morning. Within their letter that was sent to VTCA members, one of the reasons they cited for endorsing him was the assurance they received from McAuliffe that he will not repeal right-to-work laws.

“I am extremely proud to be endorsed by the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance. As Virginia’s 72nd Governor, I made addressing the Commonwealth’s transportation challenges one of my number one priorities, and we made tremendous progress working in a bipartisan way,” McAuliffe said in a statement Monday morning.

VTCA only touted McAuliffe’s former experience in the formal announcement. “Terry’s previous experience as Virginia Governor demonstrates that he understands the significance of a best-in-class transportation network to help attract the best businesses in the country,” said Gordon Dixon, Executive Vice President of the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance.

A separate letter from the president of VTCA, Jon Harman, and the chairman of the affiliated PAC, Rick James, to their members explained their endorsement more in depth. “Following extensive and thoughtful discussion, the PAC determined that the candidate best aligned with our industry’s interests and best suited to solve our transportation construction issues is former Governor Terry McAuliffe,” they wrote.

They continued in the letter to cite McAuliffe’s experience, pro-business approach, and assurance that he will not repeal right-to-work laws as their reasoning. “While questions have been raised about Terry’s position to preserve RTW, our leadership has been personally assured that RTW is NOT going away while he is Governor, and his history supports that position,” Harman and James wrote.

McAuliffe indicated during the Democratic primary earlier this year that he would support repealing right-to-work laws in Virginia. He has since walked that back and said right-to-work is not going anywhere during the last debate. The right-to-work law keeps unions from requiring membership at a place of employment, which prevents the employees from effectively unionizing. Employees can still form a union, but they are not compelled to and employers are always free to hire non-union workers.

“The VTCA is just the most recent victim to fall prey to Terry McAuliffe’s lies about his position on right-to-work,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican gubernatorial nominee.

“I will continue to invest in infrastructure and build the best-in-the-nation transportation and construction workforce to move Virginia forward and meet our transportation and transit needs,” McAuliffe said Monday.

The race is tight in with three weeks to as McAuliffe continues to show a slight lead within the margin of error for most polls.

Election day is Nov 2.

McAuliffe releases new digital ad

The ad pairs comments from Youngkin alongside comments from former President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump: The single biggest issue…

Glenn Youngkin: This is the most important issue…

Donald Trump: Is talking about the election fraud.

Glenn Youngkin: Our election integrity task force was launched week one.

Narrator: Glenn Youngkin, putting Trump’s agenda first.

Youngkin releases new digital ad

“Terry McAuliffe’s campaign is built on spreading lies and sowing fear,” said Youngkin campaign spokesperson Christian Martinez. “McAuliffe either has no clue what is going on with the pandemic, didn’t bother to check, or is happy to spread misinformation about COVID if he believes it will help him further his political career. Whatever the truth is, it’s disqualifying."

Steve Bannon is coming to an event Wednesday with Winsome Sears, Sen. Amanda Chase, Sen. Bill Stanley, and more. “Rallying with Steve Bannon, one of the main architects behind the Big Lie, and an extreme QAnon darling who continues to push dangerous election integrity lies and conspiracies is truly who Glenn Youngkin’s GOP is,” Democratic Party of Virginia Communications Director Jayce Genco said Monday in a press release.
Governor Ralph Northam and Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA07) will be joining up Tuesday morning for a press conference with Virginia labor leaders to promote the Infrastructure Package that is struggling to get through Congress.

It’s go time in tight Virginia race - Politico

by Zach Montellaro

We are just 22 days away from Election Day in the Virginia gubernatorial race, which has long been considered a political bellwether. And folks, the race is close, so I spent Sunday in Richmond to catch one of the two candidates on the trail.

Richmond and the rest of central Virginia will be key to the statewide races, and it was why former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe was in town on Sunday. The big event of the day for Democrats was a fish fry right along the line between Richmond and Varina attended by the entire statewide ticket. A few hundred people listened to candidate after candidate practically pleading with supporters to go vote early as soon as possible, and to bring their friends. McAuliffe put it in a way only a former chair of a national party committee could. “Let me tell you why this matters: We spend a lot chasin’ ya. So if you vote, we take you off our list,” he told the crowd. “Then we can spend our resources going over harder to get voters.”

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