Despite President Joe Biden’s success in Virginia in the presidential election, Democrat Terry Mcauliffe failed to garner that same support.

By Jason Flax

The votes started to come in, and the race looked like it was going to be a nailbiter. In Virginia, a state that Democrat Joe Biden had decisively won just a year before, it looked like Republican Glenn Youngkin could win the 2021 governor’s race. When the votes were counted and it was all said and done, Glenn Youngkin edged out a victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe to win the Virginia governorship, the first Republican to do so in over 10 years.

While Youngkin’s win may come as a surprise to many, it follows historical trends. Especially in Virginia, it is very rare for a governor of the same party as the president to win, which means that McAuliffe’s campaign was disadvantaged from the start. In the past 40 years, only one candidate of the same party as the president (Terry McAullife in 2014) has been elected. The election results were also consistent with the pre-election polls, which predicted that the election would be very close.

Looking at a map of election results in 2017 vs 2021, Glenn Youngkin polled significantly better than previous Republicans, with Youngkin overperforming in virtually every county across the state. Youngkin significantly outperformed Trump and previous Republicans in the state – enough that he was able to secure a victory.

But how could a Republican win in a state that just a year ago voted overwhelmingly for Biden? While many factors went into Youngkin’s upset win, his main strategy was to try to attract more moderates, especially in the suburbs of DC and in the Tidewater area. For example, in the 2020 election, Biden easily won Loudoun county, getting 61.5% of the vote. However, in 2021, the county was a lot closer, with Democrat McAuliffe only getting 55% of the vote.

Another major loss for the democrats was in younger voters. Even though they only make up a small percentage of the electorate, they show where the future of the country is going. In the 2020 election, 62% of 18-24 year olds voted for Biden, according to CNN exit polls. However, in the 2021 election, only 53% of 18-24 year olds voted for McAuliffe, a massive loss for the Democratic party. Many factors led to this shift, but lower turnout among younger democratic voters was a major factor.

From the beginning of his campaign, Terry McAuliffe’s main strategy was to tie Glenn Youngkin to Donald Trump. If McAuliffe could capitalize on Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Virginia, he would cruise to the Governorship with an easy and effortless win.

“Glenn Youngkin made his entire campaign about touting the Trump agenda. There has never been a candidate in Virginia history who has this kind of partnership with Donald Trump” – Terry McAuliffe

However, this strategy did not work well. At every step of the way, Youngkin made sure to please Trump supporters – but not enough that he alienated moderates. Trump offered to campaign for Youngkin, but on many occasions, Youngkin turned the offer down. While this may have been a risky play, it helped Youngkin win over more voters that dislike Trump.

Another factor that hurt McAuliffe is the unpopularity of President Biden. Lots of Biden’s policies have made voters of all parties unhappy, and this ended up hurting Democrats across the country in this year’s elections.

Youngkin used these opportunities ran a successful campaign, specifically capitalizing on the unpopularity of President Biden. Youngkin tried to comfort Democrats, while also riling up Republicans. He played both sides, balancing on a tightrope, trying to make an image of himself as a moderate, and stray away from national politics.

“My campaign isn’t about the past, it is about the future and bringing everyone – Republicans, Independents, and Democrats – together around my vision for a Virginia that is safer, stronger, and less divisive, with the best schools and the best law enforcement and the best economy” – Glenn Youngkin

One of Youngkin’s main stances was against Critical Race Theory, which has been a major Republican talking point over the last few years. Youngkin has pledged to ban Critical Race Theory on his first day in office. This strategy was successful, as only 36% of Virginia voters oppose a ban on Critical Race Theory, compared to the 47% that want it banned.

Part of Youngkin’s appeal was that he was new to politics, and not an established politician. Before he started his political career, Youngkin was the CEO of The Carlyle Group, a large investment firm based in Washington DC. According to Forbes, Youngkin’s net worth is $440 Million Dollars, the majority of which he made during his time at Carlyle. While Youngkin has left the Carlyle group, he still owns around 2% of the company, which translates to a sizable yearly income from the Carlyle Group.

Because of his time at The Carlyle group, some have called into question if he has a conflict of interest. Youngkin has campaigned to lower state taxes across the board, including suspending a hike on Gas Taxes. If these tax changes go into effect, they could improve Carlyle’s earnings through many of its investments, and consequently, his own.

For example, The Carlyle Group owns equity in Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy companies in North America. If Youngkin’s plan went into effect and the gas tax hike was suspended, Kinder Morgan would stand to improve profits and make more money in its Virginia market.

This is just one example of how Youngkin’s tax plan could help raise his net worth. Youngkin has also campaigned on lowering property taxes, which he says will help spur Virginian economic growth. However, Youngkin also owns lots of real estate in Virginia, and a decrease in property taxes would save him and his family lots of money. 

Youngkin also received many donations from important business figures, including a $300k donation from Richard Baxter Gilliam. Gilliam is the former executive of a Virginia based Coal Corporation, Cumberland Resources.

But one in particular donation stands out. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, a company named LSMP LLC made a 1 Million dollar contribution to the Youngkin Campaign on October 26th, 2021. Large donations to political campaigns are common, however this donation was different. There is virtually nothing about this company online, except that it was created on September 3rd 2020, and purports to be located at Suite 200, 932 Laskin Rd, in Virginia Beach. However, digging deeper into this address, there are lots of irregularities.

First off, with a quick search, lots of companies show up at the exact same location, including LFAustin LLC, American Capital Advisory LLC, CI Century Skyline LLC, Croatian Investments LLC, and much more. Office buildings typically have lots of tenants, so that many tenants being in a building is not immediately suspicious. However, looking at a Photo of the building, it does not look large enough to house this many companies.

While to some people this may sound outlandish, there are many examples around the world of thousands of companies registering in a single building. For example, there is a building in Delaware with more than 300,000 businesses registered there to capitalize on Delaware’s low taxes.

While it may not be the case, it is not a wild assessment to say that this building could be a fake host for businesses, with businesses using it as a building to register from. Before making any conclusions, the agent listed on the LSMP LLC registration, William H. Riddick was emailed. However, he has not responded to the email within a month, and it is unlikely that he will ever respond.

This article will be updated as more information comes to light, but it is unlikely that the true source of the million dollar donation to Youngkin’s Campaign will ever be found.

This issue is not unique to Glenn Youngkin’s campaign. For example, Terry McAuliffe has been investigated for “suspicious finances”, according to the Washington Post. For both Democrats and Republicans, corruption and big donors have influenced politicians and limited their ability to serve their constituents. 

Even though there are federal campaign finance laws, it is still possible for people to hide their political donations.  This has led some people to question how campaign financing works, and how we can fix this issue. According to a gallup poll, 76% of Americans favor “new federal laws limiting the amount of money that any individual or group can contribute to the national political parties”.

According to campaign worker Andrew Resnick, “The campaign finance laws are as such where corporations are allowed to donate unlimited amounts of money to help influence elections, so candidates listen more to these corporations than their constituents. Campaign finance is also one of the major reasons that America is as politically divided as it is today.”

At the end of the day, it is going to be very difficult to expose corruption and get big donors out of politics. Politicians are getting richer and richer under the current donation system. As Resnick said, “This system works very well for the politicians, so why would they want to change it?”

Some people also argue that restricting election donations goes against the first amendment and limits free speech. The Libertarian Party, for example, is one of the most vocal critics of election donation limits, arguing that “contribution and spending limits favor incumbents over challengers, unduly burden grassroots political activists, and benefit powerful interests that have an institutional presence in the capital over broader, more diffuse interests”.

Many people feel like President Trump has changed politics forever, either for better or worse. But Glenn Youngkin’s victory, in many ways, showed that American politics has stayed the same. While there are new issues, new candidates, and new battleground states – politicians are still bought out by big donors. Some things never change.