RICHMOND, Va. -- Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey narrowly won reelection in his reliably blue state while a Republican political newcomer delivered an upset in the Virginia governor's race, sending a warning Wednesday to Democrats about their grip on power in Washington.
In Virginia, Glenn Youngkin became the first Republican to win statewide office in a dozen years, tapping into culture fights over schools and race to unite former President Donald Trump's most fervent supporters with enough suburban voters to notch a victory.
Meanwhile, Murphy barely eked out a victory against GOP challenger Jack Ciattarelli, who mounted a campaign on issues including taxes and opposition to pandemic mask and vaccination mandates.
The two states' results were particularly alarming to Democrats because of where they happened. President Joe Biden carried Virginia by 10 points last year. He took New Jersey by more than 15. Given the scale of those victories, neither state was seen as especially competitive when this year's campaigns began.
But the first major elections of Biden's presidency suggested growing discontent among voters. They also underscored that, with Trump out of office, Democrats can't center their messages on opposition to him.
Republicans celebrated their strong showing, with Youngkin telling a cheering crowd of supporters that "this is the spirit of Virginia coming together like never before."
Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe formally conceded his bid to regain the office in a statement Wednesday morning that congratulated Youngkin.
"Losing is never easy," he said. "We put ourselves out there and left it all on the field."
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A political neophyte, Youngkin was able to take advantage of apparent apathy among core Democratic voters fatigued by years of elections that were seen as must-wins, as well as growing frustrations with Biden and the economy. Youngkin successfully portrayed McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, as part of an elite class of politicians. He also seized on a late-stage stumble by McAuliffe, who during a debate performance suggested that parents should have a minimal role in shaping school curriculums.
Perhaps most significantly, Youngkin prevailed in a task that has stumped scores of Republicans before him: attracting Trump's base while also appealing to suburban voters who were repelled by the former president's divisive behavior.
During the campaign, Youngkin stated his support for "election integrity," a nod at Trump's unproven claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, while also focusing on education and business-friendly policies. He never campaigned in person with Trump, successfully challenging McAuliffe's effort to cast him as a clone of the former president.
That approach could provide a model for Republicans competing in future races that feature significant numbers of Democratic or independent voters.
Down-ballot races in Virginia amplified the dark omen for Democrats as Republicans completed a sweep of offices Wednesday, with victories for attorney general and lieutenant governor.
In the lieutenant governor's race, Republican Winsome Sears, who returned to Virginia politics after an absence of nearly two decades, defeated Democrat Hala Ayala. Sears becomes the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor and the first woman of color to hold statewide office.
Her role as a tiebreaking vote in a closely divided state Senate has become even more important given GOP victories in other races. In addition to winning the governor's mansion, the party is also claiming that it has regained control of the House of Delegates, though several key races were still too early to call.
Sears, a former Marine, has also long opposed abortion, something she links to her Christian faith. She had a brief stint in electoral politics 20 years ago as a one-term delegate in the General Assembly. Her return to politics after a two-decade absence began when she served as national chairperson for Black Americans to Re-Elect President Trump.
Early Wednesday, Sears stood with her family in front of cheering supporters at a victory party in Chantilly, saying, "What you are looking at is the American Dream."
Throughout the race, Sears highlighted her background as a Jamaican immigrant, campaigning against illegal immigration and rejecting the notion that the nation is plagued by systemic racism.
In the attorney general's race, Republican Jason Miyares defeated the Democratic incumbent, Mark Herring, who was running for a third term.
Miyares will be the first Republican to hold the attorney general post since Ken Cuccinelli won in 2009. A delegate from Virginia Beach, Miyares throughout the campaign highlighted his background as the son of a Cuban immigrant.
Elsewhere in the country Tuesday, mayoral contests helped shape the leadership of some of the nation's largest cities. Eric Adams, a Democrat and former police captain, won in New York, and Boston voters elected City Councilor Michelle Wu, the city's first female and Asian American mayor. Cincinnati is also getting its first Asian American mayor, Aftab Pureval.
Minneapolis voters rejected a ballot initiative that sought to overhaul policing in their city, where George Floyd was killed by a white officer on Memorial Day 2020, sparking the largest wave of protests against racial injustice in generations. The initiative would have replaced the police force with a Department of Public Safety tasked with undertaking "a comprehensive public health" approach to policing.
But no other contest in this off-year election season received the level of national attention -- and money -- as the governor's race in Virginia, a state with broad swaths of college-educated suburban voters who are increasingly influential in swaying control of Congress and the White House.
A former co-CEO at the Carlyle Group with a lanky, 6-foot-6-inch build that once made him a reserve forward on Rice University's basketball team, Youngkin poured vast amounts of his personal fortune into a campaign that spent more than $59 million. Favoring fleece vests, Youngkin sought to cut the image of a genial suburban dad.
Youngkin ran confidently on a conservative platform. He opposed a major clean energy mandate the state passed two years ago and objected to abortion in most circumstances.
He also opposed mask and vaccine mandates, promised to expand Virginia's limited charter schools and ban critical race theory, an academic framework that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people. In recent months, it has become a catch-all political buzzword for any teaching in schools about race and American history.
McAuliffe tried to energize the Democratic base by highlighting abortion, denouncing a new Texas law that largely banned the procedure and warning that Youngkin would seek to implement similar restrictions.
Youngkin didn't discuss abortion much publicly, and a liberal activist caught him on tape saying the issue couldn't help him during the campaign. He said an election win would allow the party to "start going on offense" on the issue.
While McAuliffe pulled on the star power of a host of national Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and ex-Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Youngkin largely campaigned on his own, focusing on issues he said were important to Virginians.
"Youngkin winning these college-educated white voters who are skeptical of Trump indicates Biden's approval is likely slipping with these same types of groups in key battleground metropolitan areas like Atlanta," said J. Miles Coleman, a political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Sean Clegg, a Democratic strategist based in San Francisco, said the outcome in Virginia puts pressure on Biden to contain the fallout from his flagging approval numbers, and on members of Congress to reach a deal on the president's domestic policies.
"If it's a portent to 2022 -- you can debate that," Clegg said. "But [the Virginia election] is clearly a reflection of a dynamic that's going on right now in the party and with the president, and we need to correct it if we want to have any success."
Clegg said that what ultimately cost McAuliffe the race is the "feeling that, OK, we gave you all the reins of power and you're not delivering anything except a picture of internal, internecine squabbling."
"All the forces that have been impeding getting visible progress done in the House and Senate need to cut it out," Clegg said.
Information for this article was contributed by Will Weissert, Sarah Rankin, Ben Finley, Hank Kurz, Alexandra Jaffe, Jill Colvin and Brian Witte of The Associated Press; and by Chris Megerian, Erin B. Logan and Melanie Mason of Los Angeles Times (TNS).
Glenn Youngkin
Age: 54
Birthplace: Richmond, Va. His family moved to Virginia Beach, Va., when he was a teenager.
Residence: Great Falls, Va.
Family: Married to Suzanne. The couple has four children.
Education: Norfolk Academy, a private school in Virginia Beach, Va.; earned an engineering degree at Rice University, Houston; earned an MBA at Harvard Business School.
Current occupation: Businessman.
Party affiliation: Republican.
Business-political experience: Joined McKinsey & Co., the corporate consulting firm in 1994. He then joined the Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, from 1995-2020, where he rose to become co-chief executive. Before running for governor, Youngkin had never held political office.
