InternationalDonald Trump has taken credit forGlenn Youngkin 's win in Virginia'sgubernatorial race .- Trump said Youngkin "would not have been close to winning" if not for "MAGA voters."
Former President Donald Trump has taken credit for the Republican Glenn Youngkin's victory in Virginia's neck-and-neck gubernatorial race, releasing a statement Tuesday night thanking "MAGA voters" for showing up to the polls.
"I would like to thank my BASE for coming out in force and voting for Glenn Youngkin. Without you, he would not have been close to winning. The MAGA movement is bigger and stronger than ever before," Trump wrote in a statement posted on Twitter by his spokeswoman, Liz Harrington.
"Glenn will be a great governor," Trump added. "Thank you to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia and, most particularly, to our incredible MAGA voters!"
Youngkin, a former private-equity executive, defeated the Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who served as Virginia's governor from 2014 to 2018. Decision Desk HQ projected Youngkin the winner before 9 p.m. ET.
The former president wasted no time kicking off fundraising efforts after Youngkin moved ahead. At about 10:30 p.m. ET, Trump's team sent a fundraising email titled "Congratulations to Glenn Youngkin" asking his supporters to contribute immediately to "help save America." Clicking on the link attached to the email redirected users to the fundraising website for Trump's Save America PAC.
"INCREDIBLE - Congratulations to GLENN YOUNGKIN, a true America FIRST Patriot who had my complete and total endorsement for Virginia Governor," Trump wrote in the fundraising email seen by Insider. "This was a BIG WIN, but we can't stop now. We need to send a message to the Left that we will SAVE AMERICA."
Trump released a separate statement via Harrington on Monday denying rumors of a rift between him and Youngkin and blaming "perverts" and the news media for creating that impression.
Youngkin, however, did not campaign with Trump, who lost Virginia to Joe Biden by about 10 percentage points in 2020. The former president endorsed Youngkin but stayed away from the campaign trail aside from calling in to an election-eve telerally that Youngkin did not attend.
At the time of publication of this article, McAuliffe had not conceded defeat, tweeting: "Folks, not everything is counted and we're still waiting for a lot of votes to come in. And we want to ensure every Virginians' voice is heard."