Glenn Youngkin Wins Virginia's Closely Watched Governor's Race

Win McNamee/Getty; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Gov. Terry McAuliffe (left) and Glenn Youngkin

After a hard-fought campaign in the closely watched race for governor of Virginia, the results of Tuesday's election are in.

Glenn Youngkin defeated Terry McAuliffe, according to the Associated Press, calling the race at 12:37 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.

Youngkin led with 51 percent of the over 95 percent of the votes reported, according to the New York Times. The Republican businessman's victory marks a blow to Democrats after President Joe Biden won the state in the presidential election last year.

After polls closed and votes began to be counted, the margin between Youngkin and McAuliffe remained small, but the businessman kept ahead.

Before Youngkin's victory was called, McAuliffe took to Twitter to encourage his supporters to be patient.

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"Folks, not everything is counted and we're still waiting for a lot of votes to come in. And we want to ensure every Virginians' [sic] voice is heard," he wrote. "To all my supporters across Virginia who knocked doors, made phone calls, and talked to their neighbors: I am eternally grateful."

"We know that the long term path of Virginia is toward inclusion and openness and tolerance," he added in another tweet. "We can and will never stop fighting for those values that we believe in."

Youngkin campaigned as a business leader who worked his way to the top at the Carlyle Group, an investment firm where he worked for 25 years. He focused on current so-called "culture war" issues like critical race theory and walked a fine line on another favorite topic of Republicans, election integrity. Though he acknowledged the legitimacy of Biden's presidency, he also called for an audit of the 2020 result.

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Former President Donald Trump endorsed Youngkin, saying a day before the election that the two "get along very well together and strongly believe in many of the same policies." But Youngkin — preferring to discuss education, crime and other issues to attract the always-crucial suburban voters — tried to distance himself from the divisive former president, who never appeared in person on his behalf.

McAuliffe, 64, served as the Commonwealth's governor from 2014 until 2018 but had to wait to run again because of a rule that prohibits consecutive terms for the state's executive office.

While running again in 2021 (and conscious of surprisingly tight poll numbers) McAuliffe worked hard, he told PEOPLE in an interview days before the election, racking up more than 2,500 events since announcing his second candidacy in December 2021.

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"We've left nothing on the playing field," he said of the race in a state that Biden won by 10 points. "People always ask me, 'How do you do it?' I love it. I love being out with people."

Democrats like former President Barack Obama, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Virginia for McAuliffe, signaling the importance of the race for the party that controls the White House and both chambers of Congress but faces tough midterm elections in 2022.

Voter enthusiasm was also high across the state, with early estimates showing turnout surging above the previous race.

"What happens in Virginia will determine what happens in 2022, 2024 and so on," Harris said at a McAuliffe campaign event in Norfolk the Friday before Election Day. "Lives will be forever impacted by what you do in this election."