McAuliffe’s backsliding political brand put to the test in 2021

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) – Terry McAuliffe is a blur of handshakes, hugs, slaps and smiles as he slides through the friendly crowd at Gethsemane Baptist Church seeking help from above.

For the former Virginia governor who is running for his old job again, it is not necessarily God’s grace that he is seeking right now. He seeks help from another higher power a few hours north in Washington, where McAuliffe’s longtime friends in Congress are battling to pass an infrastructure package that could help millions of Virginia residents – and his own campaign.

McAuliffe’s desperation to make this billions of dollars for new roads and bridges a final voter pitch is evident when he meets MP Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat and close political ally for more than a decade.

“The greatest member of Congress who has ever served! He’s our man! ”McAuliffe proclaims with his arm around the 15-year-old congressman. “Can you get me an infrastructure bill?”

Scott pauses for a few moments of awkward silence.

“Uh, it’ll be at the last minute,” he says less confidently as McAuliffe moves to shake another hand.

Such pre-eminent bravery worked for McAuliffe in 2013 when he became the only Virginia candidate in 44 years to win the governor’s mansion when his party occupied the White House. But in the final days of the 2021 elections, the 64-year-old Democrat’s intensely personal politics, which uses decades of friendships, hectic, practical campaigns, and unqualified authenticity, are facing a more formidable test.

McAuliffe is in a close race with Republican newcomer Glenn Youngkin in a President Joe Biden, who won by 10 points just last fall. The shifts in the state’s swelling suburbs north near Washington, DC and around Richmond have benefited Democrats in recent years – especially when former President Donald Trump was in office. And while no Republican has won nationwide here in more than a decade, Biden’s rough summer, dominated by the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and a deadlocked domestic agenda, threatens to undermine McAuliffe’s obvious advantages.

Much like Biden, McAuliffe is in some ways a throwback to politics of the past, when the Democratic Party leadership was dominated by older, white men who ran their businesses in smoky rooms where the alcohol flowed freely. He developed his political playbook over the shoulder of Bill and Hillary Clinton, for whom he raised hundreds of millions of dollars as the main political fundraiser in the 1990s and 2000s.

Born in Syracuse, New York, he openly wrote about his fundraising campaigns in casinos and golf courses with the political elite in the book “What a Party!” published years before he became governor.

Recently, however, the Democratic Party has become much more diverse, much less friendly to wealthy financiers and much more sensitive to the behavior of its leaders. While McAuliffe is eager to talk about his accomplishments during his only term as governor, his sociable personality can overshadow his politics during the election phases.

He meets a four-year-old preschooler as enthusiastically as a four-year-old US senator, keeps joking, asking questions, quoting statistics, and squeezing his shoulders. One of his favorite jokes: “I have as much energy today as I did on the day I was born!”

Jake Rubenstein, who served as McAuliffe’s personal assistant during his 2013 campaign and traveling chief of staff in 2021, said his boss was the same man he always was.

“His style has never changed,” he says. “He’s fully there all the time. He is the campaign manager. He’s the chief of staff. He never stops working. “

McAuliffe proudly announces that he participates in 10 to 15 political events every day, seven days a week. However, there were few large rallies. Most of its gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic were by invitation only, policy-oriented events with small groups of local health officials, educators, and religious leaders among others. Closed donation campaigns are also regularly on the program.

McAuliffe is set to draw larger crowds in the days ahead when a collection of high-profile, long-time political allies visit the state on his behalf, including former President Barack Obama and Biden. Bill and Hillary Clinton, who attended his first inauguration, were not a visible part of the campaign despite running two private fundraising drives and Hillary Clinton signing three fundraising emails on McAuliffe’s behalf.

The democratic Del. Marcia Price, who is Black, admitted that some of her constituents were not thrilled to vote in the election but suggested that the pandemic was far more to blame than McAuliffe’s appeal.

McAuliffe remains a dominant force in Virginia politics. He won every city and town in Virginia and garnered more votes than all of his rivals combined in his party’s nomination contest that spring, which was attended by three colored candidates.

Still, Price, who refused to support anyone in the primary, is ready for a more diverse party leadership.

“I don’t vote on who in the whole world I want to be governor. I have two options … and Terry is the best choice, “she said in an interview. “Is it time for diversity? Yes sir. Is it time the party really looked at itself? Absolutely. But I can run and chew gum at the same time. Terry has to be elected. ”

McAuliffe’s appeal to African Americans, who make up 20% of the state’s population and a critical part of the democratic base, is central to his candidacy. His focus on racial justice is also well received by college-educated white people in the growing suburbs.

On the trail almost every day, he highlights his decision as governor to restore voting rights for more than 200,000 criminals, many of them black. He also frequently reminds voters that in 2015 he ordered the removal of a state-sponsored license plate bearing the Confederate flag.

“This is how they think of me. They don’t think about my age or my skin color – they don’t think about that, ”McAuliffe said in an interview.

When asked, he did not say that Virginia still had a problem with systemic racism.

“You still have problems to deal with here in Virginia many years ago, but we are in a different place than when I was governor,” said McAuliffe.

The former governor is also keen to promote his plans to end the pandemic, educate and protect access to abortion for women who he believes are under attack by his Republican opponent. But McAuliffe is most proud of his economic performance as governor, which has been praised by some enterprising Republicans and independents.

As a businessman, McAuliffe led more than 30 trade and marketing missions to other countries to bring new business to the state. Unemployment fell from 5.7% to 3.3% during his tenure. On closing deals, McAuliffe admits that he worked long hours and sometimes enjoyed “a glass of wine.”

Robert Vaughn, who worked among Republicans and Democrats as a staff member and later director of the House Appropriations Committee, described the former governor as a hard worker who surrounded himself with conscientious people and expected “good government”.

Vaughn, who occasionally attended business and social gatherings at the governor’s mansion, said McAuliffe seemed to really enjoy the job, including being able to “press the flesh” and entertain.

McAuliffe kept high quality spirits in stock for parties – and enjoyed fine wine and scotch – but always insisted that, according to Vaughn, he paid for them himself. He said he saw McAuliffe once in a bar in the Shockoe Slip neighborhood, enjoying “the libations” and buying people a round.

McAuliffe was blunt when asked if he thought he should curtail the party culture for which he is known.

“I have nothing to change,” he told the Associated Press.

“That’s how I recruited 1,100 companies to come to Virginia. But yeah, they came over and I stayed up until 1am. But I’ve always worked for Virginia. I had business leaders, legislative leaders. These weren’t parties. They worked hard, ”said McAuliffe. “You can bet I work hard. Nobody will ever overwhelm me. That’s how I achieved so much. “

Aubrey Layne, who describes himself as independent and served as McAuliffe’s Secretary of Transportation, said the former governor had both character and competence. He has high expectations of his employees, is responsible for them and has worked hard himself.

“He never slept,” Layne said.

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The Associated Press Writer Sarah Rankin in Richmond contributed to this report.

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