How Glenn Youngkin won

After Glenn Youngkin’s historic win in Virginia last week, many want to know: How did he do it?

First things first: Candidate quality matters. Youngkin is a disciplined communicator, an optimistic leader, and a relentless campaigner who took his message into communities long ignored by Republican candidates.

Terry McAuliffe ran a nationalized campaign like a U.S. Senate candidate, bringing in Beltway celebrities and treating 2021 like it was 2020 all over again. McAuliffe previously led the Commonwealth, but his message was “I’m the Democrat, and it’s my turn. Again.”

Youngkin made the race about Virginia and the challenges Virginians face. He could be found pumping gas in Fairfax and at grocery markets in Short Pump, talking about rising fuel, food, housing and utility costs.

He started with a 2 percent favorability rating among Virginia Republicans. This is where data matters. We did a deep dive in December to not only identify likely Republican voters in a general election, but Republicans who needed a harder push to turn out, as well as Democrats and independents who could be moved by a Youngkin candidacy. We identified the voters we would need to win if turnout reached 3.1 million, and then revised it to 3.2 million voters after seeing voter registration numbers in August and September.

Read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/08/youngkin-team-how-we-beat-terry-mcauliffe-in-virginia/