Republican Wins Election Seen As Verdict On Joe Biden's 1st Year In Office
NDTV
Republican Glenn Youngkin was 2.7 points ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the neck-and-neck Virginia tussle shortly after midnight.
The Republican candidate pulled off a stunning upset to win the governor's mansion in the US state of Virginia Wednesday, US television networks projected, in a race seen as an early verdict on President Joe Biden's first year in office.
Newcomer Glenn Youngkin was 2.7 points ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the neck-and-neck tussle shortly after midnight, with more than 95 percent of the vote counted, prompting NBC, CNN and ABC to call the election for the Republican.
A harbinger of the parties' prospects in next year's midterm elections, the race was initially expected to be a comfortable Democratic win but instead became a toss-up in the closing days of the campaign.
A private equity multi-millionaire who has never run for office defeating a former popular Democratic governor will be seen as a disaster for Biden going into the all-important 2022 races that will determine who controls Congress.
