Virginia Democrats see potential Republican governor as a threat to public schools

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Arlington, Va. – Days before the Virginia gubernatorial election, supporters of Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe gathered at a canvassing event and sounded off on the dangers posed to education if Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin wins the governorship.

“I think students will fall behind,” Aiden, a supporter of McAuliffe, told Fox News.

“It’s definitely a big threat,” another supporter named Niko remarked.

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One man felt Youngkin’s policies were derived in “talking about critical race theory and vaccine mandates,” and that they’re “meant to divide us and politicize education.”

Elizabeth, a Virginia resident, called a possible Youngkin governorship “a regression.”

“You’ve got mask mandates and vaccines and we all know that if we get a Youngkin governorship that’s not going to happen,” Elizabeth explained.

Hala Ayala, who is running for lieutenant governor on the same ballot as McAuliffe, told Fox News she “absolutely’ thinks Youngkin’s education policies could be dangerous to Virginia.

“We see what he wants to do with defunding public schools and how he wants to allocate money to his charter schools,” Ayala said.

The topic of funding charter schools was an issue that loomed large among McAuliffe supporters.

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“From what I have gathered about Glenn Youngkin he is in favor of funding private schools, making sure that the elite schools get better,” Aiden told Fox News.

However, other hot topics in education such as critical race theory also influenced how voters viewed Youngkin.

“In terms of education I think Youngkin has focused on niche issues like critical race theory. He’s using buzzwords to scare people that are not informed on issues,” a McAuliffe supporter told Fox News.

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Elizabeth said: “we always hear this B.S. about critical race theory being taken out of schools. It’s not currently in our schools, but we do need to talk about the actual history of Virginia and the country.”

“If we have a Youngkin governorship that conversation that needs to happen with high schoolers and middle schoolers, to an extent, is not going to happen,” she continued.

The election date is set for Nov. 2.