Biden yokes Youngkin to Trump at McAuliffe campaign stop - POLITICO

In a stump speech for McAuliffe, the president called the GOP nominee for governor "an acolyte for Donald Trump — for real.".

President Joe Biden stands with Virginia democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe during a campaign event McAuliffe at Lubber Run Park on July 23, 2021, in Arlington, Va.

"I ran against Donald Trump, and so is Terry,” Biden said at a rally for former Gov.

Terry McAuliffe’s comeback bid, joining in comparing his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, to the former president.

“I whipped Donald Trump in Virginia, and so will Terry.”.

But his centering of Trump in the off-year Virginia race offered a preview for how he and leading Democrats plan to approach the long shadow Trump has cast over Republicans.

In Virginia, Trump has endorsed Youngkin on three separate occasions, and Democrats are crossing their fingers that Biden’s appearance would draw Trump to holding an event for the GOP nominee.

The rally, before a mostly maskless crowd of nearly 3,000 people in Arlington, comes just over 100 days before the election in Virginia, which will pit McAuliffe in his comeback bid against Youngkin, a first-time candidate and former Carlyle Group executive.

“Why is it that Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump are so close?” McAuliffe said at the rally

“It’s totally dishonest for Terry McAuliffe to use President Trump’s endorsement to smear Glenn Youngkin, when McAuliffe is actually friends with Trump and took thousands of dollars from Trump to fund his campaign," Youngkin spokesperson Matt Wolking said, invoking the Clintons as well

In the ad, McAuliffe calls Youngkin “a loyalist to Donald Trump.”