According to reporting from CNN, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin won’t be joining Donald Trump for a virtual rally for his campaign on Monday. That’s one day before the election, which is currently polling with Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a statistical tie.
The formerly vocal Trump supporter’s absence surely comes as a surprise to Trump who has endorsed Youngkin multiple times.
I’m not going to be engaged in the tele-town hall. The teams are talking, I’m sure.
Yes, I’m sure they’re talking — in private, where Youngkin doesn’t have to be publicly associated with the toxic former president.
Trump’s announcement [1] that he would “see you soon” in reference to Arlington, VA turned out to be just the virtual rally. But that will still be enough to associate Youngkin with Trump in the minds of voters.
McAuliffe weighed in on Saturday, telling reporters that he was surprised Youngkin wouldn’t be attending.
It is just killing Trump that he is not here, obviously. He is in the race, obviously he has endorsed Youngkin seven different times.
Often, Trump appearances at rallies for Republican candidates end up backfiring for both the candidate and for Trump himself. Back during the 2018 midterms, Trump carefully endorsed candidates in very safe Republican districts, and still only saw about half of them win. By contrast, Obama endorsed 74 candidates in swing districts that year and saw 61 percent of them win their races.
Association with Trump has become an albatross around the neck of anyone who wants to be perceived as a mainstream conservative. That’s by design for the former president and the “Freedom Caucus” wing of the Republican Party. They want their candidates to be as much like Trump as possible.
It seems that Glenn is afraid of making his longtime status as a major Trump supporter a central feature of his campaign, and we really can’t blame him.