Tonight Is a Test of What Trumpism Could Be Without Trump
If Glenn Youngkin wins, Republicans will have a powerful template for how to run candidates when the former president is not on the ballot.
The fundamental question facing the Republican Party, and by extension the nation, is whether there can be a Trumpism without Donald Trump, and if so, what it would look like. Today’s gubernatorial election in Virginia will offer one of the most important clues about those questions.
The race pits Glenn Youngkin, a Republican businessman, against former Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat. Youngkin’s challenge is to win over both a Republican base devoted to Trump and moderate suburban voters who have tended to vote for Democrats, especially in the Trump era. If he is able to pull that off, his campaign will stand as a model for Republicans in other states. If he doesn’t, the search for
