Nov. 2, 2021: Youngkin’s crowds dwarf McAuliffe’s on election eve

Terry McAuliffe’s final message was almost entirely negative, focused on tying his opponent to Trump. Glenn Youngkin’s pitch was more complicated. He spent far more time advocating for job training programs, fixing the Virginia DMV, eliminating the state’s grocery tax and admiringly name-checking George W. Bush than he did talking about how he would ban critical race theory (a topic he’s leaned on plenty during the campaign to activate the MAGA base, despite the fact it’s not being taught in schools). Still, Virginia is a blue state that Joe Biden won by 10 points, and the obvious intensity gap on display in the final days can be deceiving. Subscribe to POLITICO Playbook. Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.