For Virginians, the moment has almost arrived where they’ll get the opportunity to choose their state’s next leader.

In this writer’s humble opinion, the differences between the nominees – Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin – could not be starker. And not just politically, but stylistically speaking as well.

In the left corner of the ring, there is McAuliffe who (along with his surrogates) has run one of the dirtiest campaigns in modern Virginia political history (some would say the dirtiest). Not only has he falsely portrayed his opponent as a racist and anti-Semite – par for the course for a desperate Democrat, but he’s also insinuated that Youngkin’s supporters – nearly half of Virginia voters according to the latest polls, are also racists. Why?

Because they’ve taken an active role on behalf of their children in combatting the implementation of CRT in public school classrooms, have stood against gender identity dogma, and oppose sexually explicit material being taught without advance warning. In response, Terry McAuliffe has point blank told them that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

It’s truly bizarre. Unlike Youngkin, McAuliffe has taken a novel approach to trying to pick up support. He’s decided that he will not only insult a voter’s intelligence but that he’ll also dig a deeper hole by insulting voters themselves – and then expects them to say “more, please.” His campaign has been the 2021 version of Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential campaign, where she infamously declared half of the then-GOP nominee Donald Trump’s supporters to be “deplorables.”

It backfired. Terry McAuliffe’s war on parents has also backfired, with the latest poll showing a dramatic 42 percent shift in support from McAuliffe to Youngkin among education voters in the last month.

In contrast, here’s the closing ad we see for Youngkin. While Terry McAuliffe was ingesting more bitter pills during his contentious interview with NBC News “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd earlier today, these are the kinds of things Youngkin was doing – and has been doing since Day One. Traveling all over the state in a final push, keeping it lively at the packed events, and pointedly reminding those in attendance of what is at stake in this race. The overall theme:

Does the state need four more years of “woke” from an entrenched political insider like Terry McAuliffe, or four years of what a spirited political outsider who has largely gone it alone during this campaign and who has said simply “this is who I am” has to offer?

Watch:

We've been traveling all over this great Commonwealth, and Virginians are coming together like never before. Day #8 of the #WinWithGlenn Bus Tour was INCREDIBLE. Let's go, Virginia! pic.twitter.com/b8KnS6aSJZ

— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 31, 2021

Obviously, a number of my colleagues here and I feel Youngkin is a better fit for the state than McAuliffe, but to reiterate a point I’ve made before, things need to be kept in perspective. Glenn Youngkin, if elected, would not be turning the state full red like Texas or Alabama, because – assuming it could actually even happen – it would take more than four years considering all the damage Democrats have done. The changes of the magnitude Virginia needs to get back on the right track would not happen overnight. But it goes without saying they are more likely to commence under a Youngkin administration than a McAuliffe administration.

What Youngkin would be able to do is pull the state back from the brink of blue domination, while GOP candidates who come after him can get to work doing what they can to build off of the work Youngkin can hopefully do (and hopefully with a GOP-controlled state legislature to match).

Related to all this, Youngkin should be judged on the case he’s made for himself, not over the fact that he’s not portrayed himself as a mini-Trump. The big thing to remember here is that Glenn Youngkin is not Terry McAuliffe. And considering how McAuliffe has not even been able to represent his state with dignity during his campaign and how he has treated voters – even some in his own party – with so much disrespect in the final weeks of it, that’s the most important factoid of all for voters to consider at this stage in the game, in my opinion.

Flashback: Terry McAuliffe Just Loses It When Asked by Virginia Sheriff if He Supports Defunding the Police