Fight to the finish line
Fox News correspondent Alexandria Hoff reports on Glenn Youngkin’s final push as polling comes to a close in Virginia's governor race on ‘Special Report’.
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell was the latest media pundit to smear Glenn Youngkin as a liar by claiming that critical race theory is being taught in Virginia schools.
On Tuesday, in preparation for Virginia’s governor race, Mitchell discussed Youngkin and his political rival Terry McAuliffe hours prior to polls closing on "Andrea Mitchell Reports." She claimed that Youngkin ran a tight race against McAuliffe only because he "arguably distorted" the issue regarding education. Like many other journalists, she claimed that critical race theory is not being taught in Virginia schools.
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FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA - SEPTEMBER 23: Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the press after casting an early ballot September 23, 2021 in Fairfax, Virginia. Youngkin is running against Democrat Terry McAuliffee for governor in the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
"Education, Glenn Youngkin is almost a textbook case of someone who has taken a cultural issue, and arguably distorted it, that is the accusation and according to all of our fact checking, you know, critical race theory is not taught in Virginia schools, it’s not a big deal, but it’s become, you know, a cause of outrage in so many school boards," Mitchell said.
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Mitchell’s guest White House correspondent Kristen Welker agreed, adding "we can’t find that it is being taught anywhere."
"Yes, they're talking about traditional issues like the economy, but here education is front and center and McAuliffe is accusing Youngkin of trying to stoke the culture wars because he’s talking about critical race theory, which as you point out, we can't find that it is being taught anywhere, but it is resonating with some voters," Welker said.
Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe waves during 65th annual Leesburg Halloween Parade in downtown Leesburg, Virginia, U.S., October 31, 2021. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
This matched McAuliffe’s previous claim on Sunday that critical race theory had "never been taught in Virginia" on NBC’s "Meet the Press."
"What's Glenn Youngkin education plan? He wants to ban critical race theory. Well, let me explain: It's never been taught in Virginia," McAuliffe said.
However, the Virginia Department of Education displayed several examples of promoting the phrase "critical race theory." One included a presentation from 2015, when McAuliffe previously served as governor, that encouraged schools to "embrace Critical Race Theory" in "order to re-engineer attitudes and belief systems."
Concerned community members and parents line up outside of the Loudoun County School board headquarters to voice their concerns about Critical Race Theory and other education issues on the docket, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Further, documents obtained in July found that Virginia's Loudoun County Public Schools spent more than $34,000 for critical race theory coaching for teachers.
Education has become the top issue for Virginia voters prior to the gubernatorial election. Youngkin and McAuliffe are expected to be in a nail biter Tuesday night.
Fox News' Cortney O'Brien contributed to this report.
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