Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe’s record in office is being used as GOP ammunition in hopes of moving the state in a new direction.
Mr. McAuliffe, who served as the state’s governor from 2014 to 2018, has painted himself as an experienced leader in his campaign, touting his record of putting money into schools and handling the state budget in a fiscally responsible way.
“When I took office, I inherited an economy that was in chaos. I got to work. I got out of bed every single day fighting for you. I worked in a bipartisan manner. And guess what? We created 120,000 new jobs. Personal income went up 14%,” Mr. McAuliffe said Tuesday at the final gubernatorial debate against GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin.
But, Mr. McAuliffe has exaggerated some of his accomplishments, falling short on his spending on schools and flipping his positions on issues such as right-to-work laws.
The Democrat has made his signature promise a $2 billion investment per year in education, doubling the amount he put into schools when he was first in office.
However, Mr. McAuliffe’s claims on record spending came up short by fact-checkers who found the candidate did not account for inflation in his numbers.
“In raw dollars, McAuliffe did sign budgets during his last two years that set state records for overall education spending and per-student outlays. But, this is misleading. A meaningful comparison of historic spending levels requires that the figures be adjusted for inflation,” PolitiFact wrote.
Mr. McAuliffe also made blunders on his claims saying he inherited one of the historically worst deficits thanks to Republican leadership.
“I inherited the largest budget deficit in the history of the state from Republicans,” Mr. McAuliffe tweeted in June.
The former governor has long made the claim since he first took office and has repeated the talking point since his second campaign launch in December.
However, several other fact-checks found that the $2.4 billion shortfall inherited by Mr. McAuliffe from Gov. Robert F. McDonnell was not the largest gap in state history.
In reality, Mr. McDonnell had inherited a larger deficit while succeeding Gov. Tim Kaine, now a U.S. senator, in 2010 in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
Virginia faced a shortfall of nearly $4.5 billion for the two-year budget set to start on July 1, 2010.
Additionally, Mr. McDonnell had proposed a balanced budget as required by state law.
Justin Kirkland, a political science professor at the University of Virginia, previously told The Washington Times that Mr. McAuliffe’s political history puts him at a disadvantage because his opponents could put greater scrutiny on him, while also labeling them as a career politician.
“It’s easier to find things to use against him because he served in office for a really long time,” Mr. Kirkland said. “It’s a lot easier for Republicans or the Youngkin campaign to paint him as a kind of a career politician.”
The Youngkin campaign attacked Mr. McAuliffe as having an “extreme and dangerous” record, claiming victory in Tuesday’s final debate.
“Terry McAuliffe was a disaster for Virginia and only offers recycled, failed policies for the challenges we face now,” a campaign email read. “Giving Terry a second chance means our children will suffer, our economy will stay stalled, the cost of living will continue to skyrocket, and Virginians will be less safe.”
In Tuesday’s debate, Mr. Youngkin hit at Mr. McAuliffe for his ambiguity on issues as well, zeroing in on where he stands on right-to-work legislation.
The current Virginia law bans “closed shops,” which require workers to join a job site’s union or at least pay dues. Labor unions, a key part of the national Democratic coalition, vigorously oppose such laws and pressure Democratic candidates in the 28 states that have them for repeal.
Mr. Youngkin accused his opponent of trying to “hide his views” on wanting to get rid of right-to-work legislation.
Mr. McAuliffe supported right-to-work laws during his first campaign nearly a decade ago, but recently said he would sign legislation repealing such laws, while adding that the legislature probably wouldn’t pass such a bill.
Bob Holsworth, a Virginia political analyst, argues Mr. McAuliffe’s shift on certain positions relate to broader change among members of his party.
“It is an issue that McAuliffe has shifted on,” Mr. Holsworth said. “At least his argument now is, ’hey, listen, it’s not going to be my priority. And it’s not going to happen.’”
Mr. Holsworth argues that Mr. McAuliffe’s record at large serves him well as a pro-business Democrat, despite certain shortfalls that have been pitted against him.
“Overall, McAuliffe was perceived as a pretty good governor who promoted the state well, though some of the some of his big ticket items on guns or health care were stymied by the fact that Republicans in the legislature didn’t approve of it,” Mr. Holworth said.
Democrats currently hold a majority in both Virginia houses, though November’s gubernatorial race also sees the state legislature up for election.
The McAuliffe campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Polls generally give Mr. McAuliffe a slim lead over Mr. Youngkin about a month from Election Day, though some surveys have Mr. Youngkin slightly ahead.
A Monmouth University poll that came out Monday had Mr. McAuliffe five points ahead of his opponent with 48% support versus Mr. Youngkin’s 43%.
The Monmouth poll was conducted between Sept. 22-26 and surveyed a random sample of 801 Virginia voters. It has an error margin of 3.5 percentage points.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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