Trump Won’t Be Making 11th-Hour Trip to Virginia, Youngkin Says

WASHINGTON — The hints were “Y-U-G-E.” But now Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor, has pretty well put the kibosh on former President Donald Trump coming to Virginia to campaign.

“He’s not coming,” the candidate told WTOP-FM radio on Thursday. 

“We’re campaigning as Virginians in Virginia with Virginians. And we’ve got another four days left on our bus tour, and then we’ve gotta fly around and then we’ve gotta vote,” he added.

On Wednesday, Trump praised his supporters in a Save America PAC email for heckling President Joe Biden at an Arlington, Virginia rally for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe.

“Chanting, ‘We love Trump’ in Arlington, Va. Thank you, Arlington, see you soon!” Trump wrote.

And it could be that recent polls have made the former president irrelevant and even a potential liability in the race.

The latest of these, from Christopher Newport University, was released Wednesday.

It appears to confirm the findings of other recent polls which said Republican voters were more likely to express enthusiasm about the Virginia gubernatorial election than Democrats.

In the case of the CNU poll Republican enthusiasm outpaced Democratic enthusiasm by a wide margin of 80% to 65%.

Somewhere, no doubt, a GOP strategist is thinking there’s no reason to fire up Democrats now with a provocative appearance by Trump.

In addition, the CNU poll found  people who call themselves independent are more likely to favor the Republican candidates. 

Women favor the Democratic candidates (56% to 40%), while men favor the Republicans (56% to 42%).

Most significantly, the poll shows that a narrowing of the margin between the two gubernatorial candidates isn’t restricted to the top of this year’s ballot. Democrats’ leads in the lieutenant governor and attorney general races have shrunk to similar margins.

The poll was based on 944 interviews of registered Virginia voters from Oct. 17-25, according to CNU’s Wason Center for Civic Leadership. 

According to the poll, McAuliffe holds a 49% to 48% lead over Youngkin. CNU’s poll earlier this month had McAuliffe up four percentage points (49% to 45%).

CNU goes on to say Democrat Hala Ayala now has a one-point lead in polling in the lieutenant governor’s race over Republican Winsome Sears (49% to 48%), with a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.

Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring is up on Republican Jason Miyares 48% to 47%.

A Nexstar/Emerson College poll released around the same time had McAuliffe at 49% and Youngkin at 48%.

All of the candidates are currently in the midst of their final pushes to win hearts and win votes.

Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams and Vice President Kamala Harris will join the McAuliffe campaign on Friday in Norfolk, Virginia.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue