This story will be updated as results roll in.
A neck-and-neck campaign for Virginia governor had supporters on both sides on pins and needles. A number of polls leading up to the election showed the two candidates in a dead heat.
As of early Wednesday morning, Republican Glenn Youngkin is the winner, according to most media outlets including The Washington Post.
Results statewide as of Wednesday morning, with 2,723 precincts of 2,855 reporting at 4:50 a.m. showed:
- McAuliffe: 48.55 percent
- Youngkin: 50.68 percent
In Alexandria, with 31 of 33 precincts reporting, McAuliffe has 73.47 percent of the vote as of 11 p.m.
In Fairfax County, McAuliffe leads by 64.59 percent with 249 of 250 precincts reporting at 4:50 a.m.
Photo courtesy of campaign
Terry McAuliffe, wife Dorothy and family
The nation's eyes are on Virginia, with President Biden and former President Trump both weighing in, hoping their party wins. Biden won the state last year by more than 10 points.
On one side is Terry McAuliffe, 64, Virginia's former Democratic governor, who completed his first term as the Commonwealth's 72nd governor in 2018. Virginia law (the only one in the country) doesn't allow governors to run for a consecutive term. McAuliffe is hoping for a second term, focusing on equality and education.
On the other side is Glenn Youngkin, 54, a former private equity executive (as co-CEO of The Carlyle Group), running on the Republican ticket with no previous experience as a political candidate. Youngkin has given $15.7 million to his own campaign, according to the Associated Press.
The campaign's main issues featured Youngkin’s ties to Trump, the future of abortion rights and culture war battles at schools. According to an AP VoteCast survey of Virginia voters statewide, voters were primarily concerned about the economy, followed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo courtesy of campaign
Glenn Youngkin and family
Both candidates live in the Northern Virginia suburbs, McAuliffe in McLean and Youngkin next door, in Great Falls.
If McAuliffe wins, he will be the first Virginia governor to serve two terms since Mills Godwin, who served from 1966 to 1970 and 1974 to 1978.
The winner will replace Gov. Ralph Northam.
The Washington Post Editorial Board endorsed McAuliffe, noting:
"His pro-business, moderately left-of-center priorities are in step with a state that has trended Democratic for more than a decade but has remained leery of the party’s leftward tilt elsewhere. By contrast, the Republican nominee, Glenn Youngkin, a candidate making his first run for political office, has played footsie with the scurrilously antidemocratic “big lie” that election fraud propelled President Biden into office; signaled he would roll back gun-safety laws and abortion access; equivocated on same-sex marriage; and called Medicaid expansion, which provided health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Virginians, “sad.”"
