Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), running for his second non-consecutive term as Virginia’s most senior elected official, has become the subject of criticism after remarks from a Tuesday night debate.
During the debate, McAuliffe claimed he thought parents should have little to no input on what their children are being taught in schools.
“I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” McAuliffe said.
The shocking statement that comes with only about a month left in the election cycle, as Virginians prepare to head to the polls on November 2.
The campaign for McAuliffe’s opponent, businessman Glenn Youngkin, immediately jumped on the former governor for his comments.
“Terry McAuliffe believes that parents should have no say in their children’s education so that he and his radical special interest allies can keep pushing their political agenda into classrooms,” Christian Martinez, a spokesman for the Youngkin campaign told The Virginia Star. As governor, McAuliffe shut down parents who wanted a better education and more choices for their children, and his disastrous policies and lower standards have led to plummeting SOL scores and more students being left behind. Glenn Youngkin will get politics out of our schools and be a champion for parents and students.”
The Star reached out to McAuliffe’s campaign to see if the former governor stood by his comments, but the campaign did not respond to The Star’s comment request.
According to The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research, which interviewed 603 likely Virginia voters between September 12 and September 26., said McAuliffe leads Youngkin by a margin of 48 percent to 41 percent, with nine percent still undecided. The margin of error is four percent.
According to that poll, though, Republicans in Virginia are far more enthusiastic about voting in the election than Democrats.
Forty-three percent of Republicans said they were “extremely enthusiastic” about voting, while only 35 percent of Democrats said the same.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Terry McAuliffe” by WSLS 10.
