...some type of mandate (i.e. like what Biden and the Dems have done in DC). They won, because Youngkin ran a pretty incredible campaign for a novice, and TMac ran a really poor campaign for a veteran.

Youngkin did a great job leveraging Trump energy across the state, while also finding that one or two local issues to get people jacked up. He was very professional in his presentation. And he did this while keeping Trump (the great seditionist bloviator) and Texas (with their new abortion law) at multiple arms length. That was a well run campaign. Walked the tight rope. Not sure how repeatable it is, but you need to find the right candidate to do it. He was not one of these blow hard jerk offs that Trump has brought into politics, that have such small dicks, they need to travel to Wyoming to campaign against Liz Cheney. The GOP primary process helped him. He was able to dispatch the likes of Amanda Chase (the Trump favorite) during hte primary, without losing the support of trump supporters. I have yet to read into the turnout for this election, but it had to be at record highs, and for it to be like that and the state to turn red, means Youngkin got out a ton of votes.

Tmac equally ran a very poor campaign, and that one statement about parents not having a say in what is taught in public schools was a huge disaster. As bad as his campaign was, IMO, that statement provided jet fuel for Youngkin's team to push him over the top. It was a statement that stoked the "big government knows best" type of thinking that produces energy in many. Many want to tie this to CRT. IMO, CRT was the impetus of that discussion, but it was TMac's statement projecting "government knows better" that pushed Youngkin over the top. Additionally, Tmac did zero to attract the African American vote. Doug Wilder talked about this last night, and he was right. Tmac did nothing to get them to the polls. Tmac tried to nationalize this by rolling out the Dem leadership, when he needed to localize the race (which was a masterful direction by Youngkin).

GOP has a lot to think about given these results. They have a lot to talk about too. Sears is the first women elected to the Lt Governor's post. And the first African American GOP to win a major statewide office. I believe she is first generation immigrant. Additionally the AG is 2nd generation Cuban immigrant. So, there is a lot to unpack there.

Of course the Dems have a lot to unpack as well. IMO this election result is more negative for Dems, than it is positive for GOP. The optics of this for the Biden administation is not good. GOP hasn't won a major election in Virginia in a long time. Anyhow, should be a fun day of unpacking all this stuff.