Terry McAuliffe's comment 'not to let parents' choose curriculum was his 'Deplorables' moment: McDowell
McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton confidant, is seeking his second nonconsecutive term in Richmond
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During Tuesday's Virginia gubernatorial debate in Alexandria, former Democratic Gov. Terence McAuliffe – vying for his second nonconsecutive term – proclaimed "I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision."
That comment will become his "Basket of Deplorables" moment in a key off-year race in a purple-trending-toward-blue state, said "The Five" panelist Dagen McDowell – as McAuliffe faces Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin of Falls Church
McDowell, who hails from Campbell County in southside Virginia, said that education in the Commonwealth is not a left-or-right issue.
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"This might be the Basket of Deplorable’s moment for Terry McAuliffe," she said – in reference to how Hillary Clinton ultimately turned off a swath of voters by proclaiming during a 2016 event in New York that many of Donald Trump's supporters belong in a "Basket of Deplorables".
"I'm from the side [of Virginia] that is all-red," McDowell said. "[But] this is not a Democrat versus Republican issue. It is not left versus right. It’s all [about] parents."
She said McAuliffe, who served four years in Richmond and preceded incumbent Democrat Ralph S. Northam, is "firmly snuggling up with the teachers' unions."
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"He is giving carte blanche to teachers and their unions to — parents cannot stand up for what their kids are learning in schools," she said.
McDowell recalled that McAuliffe previously vetoed three school choice bills from what was then a Republican-majority state legislature.
As of late, the Commonwealth has trended more and more Democratic – bolstered in part by the burgeoning population in the Beltway area counties like Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun.
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Meanwhile, much of the other 500 miles from there to the Cumberland Gap is much more conservative – save for blue cities like Roanoke, Richmond, Charlottesville and Norfolk.
While McAuliffe, a former DNC chair and Clinton confidant, is seeking his second term – as Virginia governors are limited to one consecutive term – Youngkin is a political newcomer who is retired from the Carlyle Group, and the winner must likely strike the delicate balance between the moderate-to-liberal voters in the DC suburbs – and the fervently pro-Trump base down the I-81 and US-29 corridors.
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The last Republican to hold the governor's seat was Robert F. McDonnell – who preceded McAuliffe's last term.