Republican Glenn Youngkin will be the next governor of Virginia. The upset win will be discussed endlessly for the next month. Here are the important takeaways from the race.

• Youngkin won thanks to promising to end Critical Race Theory in schools on day one as governor. Twenty-five percent of voters said it was their top issue and 72 percent overall said it was important to them [Critical race theory top factor for 25% of Virginia voters, while 72% called it important, by Andrew Mark Miller, Fox News, November 3, 2021]. This issue wins back suburban voters for Republicans and will prove crucial to their success in 2022.
• Whites delivered Youngkin the win. The white vote increased to 74 percent of the total cast—the highest in over a decade for the state—and 61% of whites voted for the Republican. Last year, the total vote was only 67 percent white and just 53 percent of whites voted for Trump. When you campaign on Critical Race Theory instead of the Black Platinum Plan, whites turn out and vote for you.
• Cuckservatives will see this as a rebuke of Donald Trump and Trumpism, but that’s not the case. Youngkin won the primary thanks to Trump’s endorsement and he never condemned the former president, even while keeping him at arm’s length. Youngkin also won on what could be “white identity politics,” a factor cuckservatives absolutely want to avoid. Youngkin’s win does not signify a return to Business First Republicanism, but a possible emergence of Trumpism without Trump.
• The win signals a very promising midterms for the Republicans. Joe Biden’s popularity will likely continue to decline as economic problems, the border crisis, and wokeness become more unbearable for ordinary Americans. If Republicans can win back a state that Trump lost by 10 points, they can win nearly anywhere.
• Immigration wasn’t touched upon in the campaign. There is the possibility that Republicans may take the wrong lesson from this and ignore it. That’s extremely dumb. Combining immigration patriotism with anti-CRT is the winning strategy in 2022.
• Youngkin’s win may convince moderate Democrats to oppose the “Build Back Better” budget bill. The bill attempts to sneak in Amnesty and serious immigration changes while raising taxes and redistributing wealth to non-whites. Smart moderates may conclude that their political future depends on opposing this terrible idea.

Youngkin isn’t really an America Firster and we should be skeptical of how much he will accomplish. But that aside, his win is a victory for our ideas. That’s the main takeaway.