Trump Reportedly Plans Tele-Rally for Glenn Youngkin in Virginia on Election Eve

 
Former US President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he walks off after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas

ANDY JACOBSOHN/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump will reportedly hold a tele-rally for Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin on Monday as polls in the governor’s race have tightened. Democrat and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s lead has shrunk in recent weeks, and a Fox News poll released Thursday actually shows him trailing the businessman by eight points.

An aggregate of polls by FiveThirtyEight has the race as a statistical dead heat, with McAuliffe leading by a slim 1.5 percentage points.

The McAuliffe campaign has relentlessly tied Youngkin to Trump, who endorsed the Republican during the GOP primary campaign. News of Trump making an appearance the day before the election will delight Virginia Democrats, who are hoping voters will negatively associate Youngkin with Trump. Shortly before the tele-rally was announced, Politico asked Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) if he wanted Trump to come to the state and campaign for Youngkin.

“Oh yeah,” he replied. “I’ll even loan him my backyard, landscape it and everything.”

For his part, Youngkin has kept his distance from the former president in recent months. Trump lost the state by five points in 2016, and by 10 points in 2020.

On Tuesday President Joe Biden campaigned at a rally for McAuliffe in Arlington, Virginia where he taunted Youngkin.

“Terry’s opponent has made all his private pledges of loyalty to Donald Trump,” yelled Biden. “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?”

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Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.