After Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe launched an ad blasting his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin for making election integrity a central focus of his campaign, Youngkin’s campaign has responded in kind.
McAuliffe, who served as Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018, also headed the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2001 to 2005. During that time, he claimed that Republicans stole the 2000 election from then-candidate Al Gore, in favor of former President George W. Bush.
“Let’s go back to Florida,” McAuliffe said in 2004. “We actually won the last election, folks. They stole the last presidential election.”
Youngkin’s campaign posted that clip to its Twitter account:
In 2004, Terry McAuliffe told a crowd of Democrats, “We actually won the last presidential election, folks. They STOLE the last presidential election.”
Today he refused to say whether he still believes the election was stolen. pic.twitter.com/UImRxe0tEt
— Team Youngkin – Spirit of Virginia (@TeamYoungkin) July 28, 2021
Youngkin spokesperson Matt Wolking posted a photo of a Washington Post headline from 2000, after McAuliffe was elected to head the DNC, saying that questioning the legitimacy of the Bush presidency was “literally the first thing” McAuliffe did as head of the DNC.
It was literally the first thing @TerryMcAuliffe did when became the head of his party pic.twitter.com/wsoTY3Z4ZY
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) July 30, 2021
Election integrity has been a hot topic nationwide after the 2020 election.
Former President Donald J. Trump challenged the election results in multiple states, claiming that widespread fraud helped President Joe Biden win during a year where much of the vote was conducted by mail.
Youngkin will participate in an upcoming election integrity rally, which prompted the attack from McAuliffe.
Many on the political left have claimed that questioning the integrity of America’s elections is a “threat” to Democracy, despite the fact that Democrats spent most of Trump’s term in the White House accusing him, without evidence, of being illegitimately elected with the help of nefarious Russian forces.
Youngkin’s campaign spent much of last week on offense, attacking McAuliffe for accepting the endorsement of a group that supports defunding the police, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and end the prison system.
That endorsement, along with an endorsement from pro-abortion group NARAL Virginia, which also supports defunding the police, does not jive with McAuliffe’s attempt to portray himself as a moderate, according to Youngkin’s campaign.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
