Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday credited his victory in Virginia to a 'movement' of parents that started in Loudoun County as education became the central issue launching the Republican to victory over former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe.
'I was really overwhelmed by the broad support across the entire Commonwealth of Virginia,' Youngkin told Fox News' Tucker Carlson in the first network interview since he was declared winner of the gubernatorial race in Virginia in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
'This campaign stopped being a campaign a while ago, and it became a movement,' the Republican victor said, adding that 'education really did become a top issue in this election.'
'Parents across Virginia started to recognize that they really did need to have an important, decisive role in their children's education,' he continued. 'And when they heard Terry McAuliffe say… he wants to put government between parents and their children, this ceased to be a campaign and it started to be a movement led by parents.'
Youngkin beat McAuliffe 50.9 per cent to 48.4 per cent in a state that was expected to easily be handed to Democrats after President Joe Biden won it by 10 points in the 2020 presidential election.
Issues involving education became a central focus of the campaign when parents were concerned they were losing say over their children's time at school – including the teaching of Critical Race Theory and the rights of trans students.
'So many people are trying to divide us and tell one group that they should be different than another and it's time for us to come together,' Youngkin said, adding people on the campaign trail told him they were tired of the divisiveness.
Republican Glenn Youngkin, the governor-elect of Virginia, attributed his victory to a 'broad movement' of parents across the state
During his campaign, Youngkin brought it back to religion, saying all people are equal because God made it that way.
'Here we have in our schools a moment to stop teaching our children about their differences and start teaching them about the things that can bring us together and prepare them for a great life,' Youngkin said. 'And that's what we're going to do in our schools when I'm governor.'
Conservatives have fought hard against schools implementing the teaching of Critical Race Theory, which is a way to teach history that links the development of the U.S. and its laws to race.
Republicans claim this teaching is a way to make America seem like a racist nation and they say it focuses too much on dividing students by race.
Trans issues have also become big in Virginia schools, especially in Loudoun County, the wealthiest county in the U.S.
The school board in Loudoun County ruled in August that transgender students could use facilities and participate in school groups, like sports, associated with their gender identity.
A few months later, the wealthy Virginia county was making national headlines for a case involving a rape of a girl student by a 15-year-old boy dressed in a skirt in the women's rest room at school.
Youngkin, a businessman before running for office, said he is ready to get to work for Virginians in 'real people time, not government time.'
He is expected to be inaugurated on January 15, 2022.
Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe (left) was expected to easily grasp victory for his old post in a state President Joe Biden (right) won by 10 points in the 2020 presidential election
The Democratic Party is warring with who to blame for the upsets in Virginia and the razor-thin margin of victory in New Jersey. Establishment Democrats say if Biden's agenda was passed before Election Day, the outcomes would have been different, but progressive factions claim the party needed to go far-left to win.
Joe Biden on Wednesday, said he didn't think it would make a difference if his agenda passed in Congress before voters headed to the polls, despite speculation the outcome was a rebuke on his presidency.
Instead, the president said the high number of Trump supporters turning up to vote was to blame and said people are upset over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the rising price of gas.
'I think it should have passed before Election Day, but I'm not sure that I would be able to have changed the number of very conservative folks who turned out and the red districts who were Trump voters. But maybe,' the president said during a White House event on Wednesday.
By invoking Trump, Biden was at least partly agreeing with his predecessor, who immediately took credit for Youngkin's win, and claimed it was MAGA forces who put him over the top – in a race where Youngkin took some notable steps to try to keep distance between himself and the former president.
When asked if Democrats should have won in Virginia considering Biden won it by 10 points in 2020, the president said: 'I know we did, but we also – I was running against Donald Trump' – a comment that suggested Youngkin was a stronger and less divisive figure.
Youngkin took stage at an election-night rally in Chantilly, Virginia on Tuesday night. The Republican beat McAuliffe by 2.5 percentage points
Biden said that he continues to bring up Trump 'because the issues he supports are affecting their lives every day, and their negative impact on their lives.'
'Look, I just think people are at a point, and it is understandable, where there's a whole lot of confusion. Everything from are you ever going to get COVID under control or are my kids going to be in school, are they going to be able to stay in school to whether or not I'm going to get a tax break that allows me to be able to pay for the needs of my kids and my family,' he said.
The president added: 'People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things – from COVID to school to jobs to a whole range of things, and the cost of a gallon of gasoline.'
Progressive factions of the party claim that Democrats need to realign even further left to adjust to the changing political landscape.
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