It was a career-ending gaffe, or at least has come to be seen that way. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” said Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe during a 2021 Virginia gubernatorial debate with his Republican rival, Glenn Youngkin.
The line was replayed endlessly in attack ads, and handed Youngkin a gift for the central plank of his election campaign: “Parents matter.” He prevailed in a state that Joe Biden had won a year earlier. Now Youngkin is seeking to repeat the trick on 7 November on behalf of Republicans in elections for Virginia’s state assembly.
