Washington, Nov. 4 (BUS) – Hoping to win back the House and Senate in elections a year from now, Republicans are planning to follow a strategy used by Glenn Yongkin to win the Virginia governor’s race, putting schools on the front line in America’s culture wars, according to several lawmakers. He said on Wednesday.
Youngkin, the former Carlyle Group CEO, defeated former governor Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday, in part by focusing on — and stoking — parental anger over the way schools have handled race, gender and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This approach contrasts with criticism that Republicans under former President Donald Trump have faced for seeking to cut education and trying to pay for Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico using budget funds for schools and childcare centers.
Several prominent Republicans on Wednesday said they appreciated the campaign’s message to parents.
“The only thing you’ll find is that the GOP is going to be the education party,” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said. He said House Republicans will soon introduce a “Parental Rights Act.”
Youngkin’s victory in Virginia, a state that has drifted toward Democrats in recent years, and a strong Republican performance in other states on Tuesday were cheered by Republicans.
Democrats have slim majorities in the US House of Representatives and Senate. Historical trends and poor poll numbers for President Joe Biden give Republicans an edge in next year’s contest to determine which party controls Congress.
McCarthy predicted that more than 70 House seats controlled by Democrats would be competitive next year.
Yongkin capitalized on parents’ fears that schools were teaching left-wing ideas to fight racism at the expense of more traditional subjects.
He pledged to ban the teaching of “critical race theory,” a legal framework that examines how racism shapes US laws and policies. Virginia school officials say critical race theory as a subject is not taught in the classroom.
Republicans have also tried to channel anger over education into Biden’s emerging $1.75 trillion social spending and climate change legislation, which provides universal preschool for 3- to 4-year-olds.
“Democrats need to listen to voters. Get rid of the tax and reckless spending spree,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech on Wednesday.
“Republicans can say it shows Democrats are overstepping their bounds, and Democrats can say shows we should have enacted this before the election and run on it,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said. “Everyone here spins easily.”
Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said Yongkin’s message about education resonated with parents who indulged in education issues during the months they spent at home with their children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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