CNN commentator Van Jones said Glenn Youngkin’s win the Virginia governor’s race could be evidence of the emergence of “the delta variant of Trumpism.”
Jones suggested that Youngkin, who welcomed Trump’s endorsement in the contest but also sought a distance from the former president, represented the same kind of politics as Trump. But Jones said it came in a packaging that could be better sold to voters and that might help the GOP win elections.
“When this election is over we will know, have we seen the emergence of the delta variant of Trumpism,” Jones said Tuesday evening during CNN’s coverage of election night before polls closed.
“In other words, Youngkin … same disease, but spreads a lot faster and can get a lot more places,” he added.
Trump suffered a sound defeat in Virginia at the hands of President Biden just a year ago, losing the state by 10 percentage points.
Youngkin turned those results around by preforming much better in Virginia’s suburbs, while winning big margins in the far southwest corner parts of the state. The businessman-turned politician ran a campaign focused on local issues like school curriculum and local taxes on groceries and gas.
Trump has attempted to take credit for Youngkin’s win, saying he would have lost by a wide margin if his supporters had not voted for Youngkin.
Jones, like several political pundits on Tuesday night, warned Youngkin’s victory and a tightly-contested race for New Jersey governor should serve as a “wake up call” for Democrats.
“I think that, you know, the Democratic Party, I mean, everybody that I’m talking to tonight, there’s a — this is a big, big wake-up call. I think people took Virginia for granted,” he said. “We took California for granted, but then people, you know, got in there and saved Gavin.”