Youngkin wins Virginia governor’s race, jolting Democrats

By WILL WEISSERT and SARAH RANKIN
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican former business executive Glenn Youngkin has won Virginia’s governor’s race, a major political turnabout in a state that had been trending increasingly blue. The win, confirmed early Wednesday, is sure to alarm national Democrats already nervous about holding their party’s narrow control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections. The 54-year-old Youngkin is a political newcomer and was a virtual unknown at the start of the race. He beat Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014 to 2018. President Joe Biden won Virginia by a comfortable 10 percentage points last year, but that disappeared as Youngkin beat back the Democrats’ efforts to portray him as a clone of former President Donald Trump.