over a decade. do they have a better chance this year, and what are they running on? yeah, i think they do and for two reasons. one of the reasons that they really struggled particularly in last year s is that trump really did not play well in virginia especially in a lot of those suburbs and especially among women. and that really allowed democrats to consolidate some control. he is obviously somewhat out of politics now [laughter] but moreover, they ve got a good candidate in gwen junkin glenn junkin. he s running on the cost of jobs and education and crime. and he s been pretty disciplined. so and and there s a loot of people that are very worried about joe biden s agenda, so that is combining to give republicans a real chance. paul: mene, this issue of school choice that came up in the debate, junkin immediately after
the debate in response to that mcauliffe clip put an ad up suggesting they think there s a vulnerability there politically for mcauliffe. is that the way that junkin hopes to win back some of the suburban vote, by focusing on education curriculum and school choice? yes, i think that s exactly the campaign s plan. he s focusing on these sorts of kitchen table issues, and over the past year schools and school choice have become a bigger issue than they ve ever been. of course, we saw schools stay closed during lockdowns against the wishes of many parents, but it also has to do with the curriculum. so one of his proposals was to pilot ten new charter schools in virginia which doesn t have a big, existing network of charters. and i think that s part of what s driving the enthusiasm for him, a love to of parents