Washington (AFP) - Glenn Youngkin's upset victory in the Virginia governor's race, in which he secured Donald Trump's endorsement but kept him at arm's length, has given other Republicans a blueprint to follow as they seek to regain control of Congress next year, analysts said Wednesday.
"Youngkin created the playbook," said Leonard Steinhorn, a professor of communication at American University in Washington. "He threaded the Donald Trump needle."
Youngkin, a 54-year-old private equity multi-millionaire, defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday in a state that Democrat Joe Biden won by 10 points over Trump in 2020.
McAuliffe, a Clinton Democrat who served as Virginia's governor from 2014 to 2018, tried during the campaign to portray Youngkin as a Trump acolyte.
"The McAuliffe campaign was just nonstop trying to tie Youngkin to Trump," said J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
"I don't think it was that effective," Coleman said. "Youngkin just doesn't talk or act like Trump."
"He's more of a Mitt Romney or a Paul Ryan-type Republican," he said, referring respectively to the senator from Utah and the former Republican speaker of the House.
Youngkin, while giving a "wink and a nod" to Trump, managed to keep his distance from the former president, whose brash style had alienated many suburban voters, particularly white women.
'Election integrity'
Youngkin won Trump's endorsement by talking about "election integrity" -- a coded reference to the real estate tycoon's false claims that he won the 2020 election.
But the Republican gubernatorial candidate did not mention Trump on the campaign trail and he did not invite him to any of his rallies in Virginia.
"What Youngkin did -- before the Democrats could sort of wrap Trump around him -- was to define himself to the voters as a regular suburban dad who had to struggle growing up and who enjoyed playing basketball," Steinhorn said.
Youngkin managed to retain Trump's fanatical base while extending his appeal to Covid-weary suburban voters with a campaign message that emphasized education.
"Youngkin used a form of Trumpian populism but he framed it in a very smart way which I think will sort of become the Republican playbook for next year's midterms," Steinhorn said.
"It was a message of empowerment -- school boards and the teachers unions and government and those liberal elites don't want to listen to you," he said. "I am your voice. I'm going to advocate for you. Parents need to have a say."
The inability of Biden to get his ambitious economic agenda through Congress also clearly hurt McAuliffe's campaign.
"Americans want results," Steinhorn said. "When the narrative is infighting, disarray and dysfunction... the voters are going to question whether you can govern effectively."
'Wakeup call'
Steinhorn said the Virginia election was a "wakeup call" for Democrats and an "opportunity" for Republicans ahead of the midterms, when the Grand Old Party will seek to regain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
"Donald Trump won't be on the ballot," Steinhorn said. "So the question for Republicans will be 'How visible will Donald Trump be'?
"If he starts going around the country with his rallies saying intemperate and extreme things and pushing conspiracy theories, that may not be helpful for the Republican Party."
"The best news for the Democrats last night is that they still have a year to reset and change the narrative," the professor said. "The best news for the Republicans is that they found a playbook in Glenn Youngkin.
"It doesn't mean that everybody's going to be able to pull this off as deftly as Youngkin," he added.
'MAGA'
As for Trump himself, he used an appearance on the John Fredericks Radio Show to take credit for Youngkin's win and attributed it to his Make America Great Again movement.
"I've heard Virginia is blue but I've never believed it was blue," Trump said. "Without MAGA (Youngkin) would have lost by 15 points.
"Instead of giving us credit they say 'Oh he's more popular than (Trump),'" the former president said.
