Yellin’ Joe Biden Taunts Youngkin at McAuliffe Rally for Shying Away From Trump: ‘Is He Embarrassed?’

President Joe Biden stumped for Democrat Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday night, one week ahead of Virginia’s gubernatorial election. McAuliffe, who was governor from 2014 to 2018, is facing Republican Glenn Youngkin.

Biden taunted the Republican over the fact that, despite his embrace of Donald Trump during the Republican primary, Youngkin has been largely mum on the whole Trump thing in the general election campaign. Trump endorsed Youngkin, which likely helped the businessman land the GOP nomination. However, in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2009, Trump’s backing has complicated matters for the Republican.

“Terry’s opponent has made all his private pledges of loyalty to Donald Trump,” thundered Biden at the rally in Arlington. “But what’s really interesting to me, he won’t stand next to Donald Trump now that the campaign’s on. Think about it. He won’t allow Donald Trump to campaign for him in this state. And he’s willing to pledge his loyalty to Trump in private, why not in public? What’s he trying to hide? Is there a problem with Trump being here? Is he embarrassed?”

Democrats in the state have made Youngkin’s association with Trump a key part of their strategy, as Trump lost the state twice, by five percentage points in 2016, and 10 in 2020.

But the two candidates are in a statistical dead heat as polls tightened in recent weeks. While McAuliffe has led most polls, an aggregate of surveys by FiveThirtyEight shows the Democrat just 1.7 percentage points ahead of Youngkin.