Youngkin is taking Virginia by bus
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Authorities found the man who sent a threat to Terry McAuliffe; no charges were placed
Virginia State Police have located the individual in Williamsburg behind a threatening email sent to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe Tuesday night.
“If I get the opportunity I will shoot Terry! – MAGA,” the email read in its entirety.
The Virginia State Police was then notified of the email.
“The email was forwarded to the Virginia State Police Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Team, as is done with any email of an alarming/threatening nature that is received by a candidate running for elected office,” said Corinne Geller, the public relations director for Virginia State Police.
On Wednesday, McAuliffe received protection from a trooper at a campaign event in Charlottesville.
Geller said that on Thursday, Virginia State Police special agents identified the individual who sent the email and went to his residence in Williamsburg. “An investigation was initiated, which resulted in state police identifying the sender of the email,” Geller said in a statement. “On Thursday, state police special agents responded to the 81-year-old man’s residence in Williamsburg, Va., and spoke with him at length.”
Geller says that the special agents consulted with the local commonwealth’s attorney as well.
“After consultation with the Commonwealth’s Attorney, the investigation has been concluded and no charge will be placed,” Geller said.
On Wednesday, the McAuliffe campaign called on his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin to denounce the threat. “This is the type of violent, dangerous behavior we’ve come to expect from supporters of Donald Trump. Glenn Youngkin needs to immediately condemn this threat and denounce Donald Trump and the ‘MAGA’ movement once and for all,” said Jake Rubenstein, a spokesperson for McAuliffe.
Youngkin’s campaign responded Wednesday evening. “Political violence is a threat to our democracy and is absolutely unacceptable,” said Macaulay Porter, a spokeswoman for Youngkin.
The identity of the individual was not released.
President Joe Biden is coming to campaign with Terry McAuliffe again
President Joe Biden is set to campaign with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe Tuesday just across the river from D.C. in Arlington.
This will be the second time that Biden will be stumping for McAuliffe in person during this cycle. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden campaigned for McAuliffe last Friday in Henrico, and Vice President Kamala Harris fired up a crowd in Dumfries Thursday night.
Biden’s visit comes at a time when his approval ratings are quite low across the commonwealth. After winning Virginia by 10 points in 2020, Biden’s latest approval numbers according to Monmouth University show just a 43% job approval rating, Three points lower than it was in August and three points lower than Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
52% of the respondents to the Monmouth poll say they disapprove of Biden’s job so far compared to Northam’s 42% disapproval rating.
McAuliffe is in a tight race against Republican Glenn Youngkin. The same poll from Monmouth shows a 46-46 tie between the two when registered voters were questioned. Youngkin has narrowed the gap in recent months to the point of a tie, leaving Democrats with the only real option of driving their base to try and make sure turnout is high enough to get McAuliffe back to the Executive Mansion for a second time.
McAuliffe has Stacey Abrams, The Dave Matthews Band, and the actor Blake Cooper Griffin stumping for him as well in the coming days as he looks to fire up Democratic voters.
