CNN called the race for Youngkin, a Republican, early on November 3, at 12:30 a.m. In the close race, Youngkin prevailed with 51 percent to 48.3 percent and 95 percent of votes reported.
Youngkin’s win marks the first time a Republican has won Virginia’s top office in more than 10 years. The last Republican to serve as governor in Virginia was Robert McDonnell, who was elected in 2009 and served until 2014.
Virginia does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms but does allow former governors to run for reelection later. Youngkin’s Democratic competitor, Terry McAuliffe, was campaigning for his second term in office after serving his first from 2014 to 2018, the term immediately succeeding McDonnell’s. Sitting Governor Ralph Northam kept the office in the Democrats’ column when he won the state’s 2017 gubernatorial election.
Virginia and New Jersey are the only two U.S. states with regularly scheduled gubernatorial elections this fall, and many Americans have looked to the Virginia race as a likely indicator of how next year’s midterm elections will play out. While sitting New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy led his Republican opponent in polls leading up to Election Day in New Jersey, the race in Virginia was much closer, with several polls conducted in recent weeks indicating Youngkin and McAuliffe were tied.
Polling averages calculated the day before the election suggested only 1 point separated the two candidates. While McAuliffe led in most polls conducted through the summer and early fall, his lead narrowed as the election drew closer, and some polls released in the days before the election indicated Youngkin was the candidate in the lead.
As the race in Virginia tightened, several high-profile Democrats rallied in support of McAuliffe in the weeks before the election. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama are just a few of the politicians who attended campaign events alongside McAuliffe in Virginia, and the Democratic candidate also received support from musicians Pharrell Williams, Dave Matthews and Carole King.
Youngkin also received support from a former president when Donald Trump first endorsed him in May. Though Trump has reiterated his support for Youngkin several times in the months since, Youngkin did not attend any campaign events with Trump and often distanced himself from the former president in what some strategists described as an effort to appeal to undecided voters.
Virginia’s electoral votes have gone to the Democratic presidential candidate every election cycle since 2008, but Republican presidential candidates consistently won the state for several decades before. Virginia has also shifted between Republican and Democrat governors since the 1970s, with the Democratic Party’s most recent control of the state beginning with McAuliffe’s first win in 2013.
