Former President Trump started fundraising off of Republican Glenn Youngkin’s early lead in the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday evening, capitalizing on the MAGA-endorsed candidate’s strong footing even before the race was called.
Trump, in a fundraising email sent just after 10:30 p.m. ET, congratulated Youngkin for a “big win,” despite the race not yet being called. With almost 93 percent of the vote reported at around 11:30 p.m. Eastern, Youngkin was leading Democrat Terry McAuliffe by just over 87,000 votes, according to The Associated Press's results.
The former president thanked his base for “coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin,” adding that the "MAGA movement is bigger and stronger than ever before.”
The email then provided a link to donate to the former president’s Save America PAC.
Trump started touting the Youngkin's lead after the votes started trickling in Tuesday evening, releasing a trio of statements underscoring the Republican's early lead.
Trump endorsed Youngkin, though he never appeared in person at a rally with the candidate. The Youngkin campaign said it was honored to have received Trump’s backing but also worked to keep a distance from the former president, especially since he lost the commonwealth in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Youngkin instead focused on hot-button topics that would galvanize Republicans, including election integrity and education.
McAuliffe, however, worked to make Trump a fixture in the race, consistently evoking the former president’s name at campaign rallies to associate him with Youngkin.
Trump wrote in a statement Tuesday evening that he did not have to attend a rally with Youngkin because McAuliffe regularly linked him to the Republican candidate.
“It is looking like Terry McAuliffe's campaign against a certain person named ‘Trump’ has very much helped Glenn Youngkin. All McAuliffe did was talk Trump, Trump, Trump and he lost! What does that tell you, Fake News? I guess people running for office as Democrats won’t be doing that too much longer,” Trump wrote.
“I didn’t even have to go rally for Youngkin, because McAuliffe did it for me. Thank you to the MAGA voters for turning out big!” he added.
Youngkin came out strong in the gubernatorial race after meeting or over-performing expectations in a number of counties that he had to win to secure control of the governorship. McAuliffe, on the other hand, started the night by underperforming in areas outside of the Washington, D.C., Beltway, which are critical to his path to the governor’s mansion.
