The Virginia governor’s race has always been treated as a referendum on the White House incumbent. The result this time — with Democrat Terry McAuliffe losing to his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, a year after Biden swept the state by 10 percentage points — amounts to a referendum squared. US politics is considerably more nationalised than it has ever been, which makes this a terrible result for the president. The message to him from Virginia is to turn things around before it is too late.
Youngkin’s victory will serve as the templat