WATCH: 7News goes one-on-one with Virginia gubernatorial candidates McAuliffe and Youngkin
ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — 7News' Nick Minock recently interviewed both of Virginia's gubernatorial candidates.
WJLA 7News DC offered both candidates 20-minute interviews. In a text message to Nick Minock, Terry McAuliffe's campaign only agreed to 10 minutes. McAuliffe abruptly ended the interview and told the reporter he should have asked better questions.
You can read the transcripts of these interviews in their entirety and watch the full interviews below.
GLENN YOUNGKIN - REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
On Thursday, October 14, 2021, 7News Reporter Nick Minock sat down with Glenn Youngkin for an interview in Fauquier County right after Youngkin rallied supporters in Warrenton.
Youngkin is the Republican candidate in the 2021 election for Virginia governor. Below is the full transcript of our interview with Youngkin. You can also watch video of the interview below.
Nick Minock: "Glenn Youngkin. Thank you for sitting down with us. You are here talking about education in Fauquier County. So let’s start with that. I interviewed your Democratic opponent. And he said that your education plan would cut funding out of public schools – put it into private schools. I believe he said it would take $10 billion out of public education and cut 48,000 teachers [Editorial note: McAuliffe said Youngkin’s plan would cut 43,000 teachers]. Is that true?"
Glenn Youngkin: "Well he’s made all that up. But that’s what Terry McAuliffe does is if he doesn’t like the real fact set he makes one up. It’s all patently false. What we are going to do is invest more in education than has ever been invested in education in Virginia with the largest budget in the history of Virginia. We are going to make sure our schools are open five days a week in classroom education because our children deserve that. The second thing we are going to do is raise standards again. What’s happened is over the last eight years is Terry McAuliffe, when he was governor, 88 schools didn’t pass their accreditation. Rather than do the hard work and fix them, they just lowered the standards, so not one would fail. And today Virginia sees our children held to standards that are ranked 50th in the nation in reading and math. The test scores are just terrible. I mean this past Spring test scores came out where 55% of white children in Virginia can’t pass an eighth-grade math equivalency test and 70 percent of Latino children and over 80 percent of black children – the gap is unacceptable. The magnitude in these numbers are stunning. Stunning. So that’s what we have to go to work on. So, our schools are going to be open. We are going to make sure we raise expectations again. We are going to fund the largest budget in the history of Virginia with raising teacher pay and investing into facilities. And oh by the way, investing into special education. Virginia’s children with disabilities have really been disproportionately impacted during this time period. But we are also going to fund into a new charter school initiative. And the charter school initiative is within the public-schools system, but Virginia has eight charter schools. North Carolina has 190. Maryland has 140! We have eight. And we are absolutely going to press forward with an aggressive charter school program. We are going to have 20 on day one. And then we are going to close that gap overtime. So that parents within the public schools system have a choice of where they send their children within the public school system. It’s not taking any money out of it. It’s putting more money in it. And finally, we are going to get to work on our curriculum to make sure our children are being taught how to think as opposed to what to think. This is a comprehensive approach to fundamentally lifting up our education system. My opponent wants to do the same thing he’s always done. Which is make up facts and then he’s going to run the same playbook he tried to run when he was governor. It didn’t work then it’s not going to work going forward. And this is why parents are so excited about what I’m talking about where we are going to empower parents and of course Terry McAuliffe thinks that parents don’t have a role in their children’s education. He stood up and he said that he wants to put government between parents and children. He didn’t like that parents were standing up more after that. So now we have all of a sudden the FBI trying to silence parents. This is so wrong. Parents know that when I’m serving them as governor I’m going to stand up for parents, children, teachers, and we are going to put education in Virginia back where it belongs as an education that is held up and is the standard across the country as opposed to one that’s fallen away.
Nick Minock: "If you are elected as governor would your future administration issue mandates for schools on what they should teach and how they should teach it?"
Glenn Youngkin: "I think these are decisions that need to be made at the local level. We will issue a mandate on what not to teach. And we are going to mandate that we are not going to teach using race as a way to divide students where we are going to bucket children into those that are privileged and those that aren’t. We are not going to do that. We are going to teach all of history. The good and the bad. There have been abhorrent chapters in Virginia’s history – in our nation’s history. We must teach it. But we are going to teach our children in fact how to think, not what to think on a going forward basis. And that, yes, is going to be left up to the local school districts to absolutely press forward on. But we will make sure that there are clear expectations on the sort of things we are not going to do anymore."
Nick Minock: "I asked Mr. McAuliffe about critical race theory. Actually, he brought it up. He said when you talk about CRT you are using, in his words, a racist dog whistle, that you’re dividing parents, and that you’re using children as political pawns. Is that what you are doing?
Glenn Youngkin: "I find this to be laughable. Where somebody who is lecturing me on race issues where he in fact called for Governor Northam’s resignation when he wore blackface because he was so offended by it. And then he turns around and embraces Governor Northam and he’s got somebody else on the ticket with him who admits to having worn blackface. And he is going to lecture me on something around race. This is about making sure that race is not used to divide people in my view. Critical race theory in fact forces the division of people based on race. And it’s the exact opposite of what we should be doing. You can’t press forward here without remembering Dr. Martin Luther King’s immortal words where he implored us to judge one another based on the content of our character not the color of our skin. I’m about bringing people together. And Terry McAuliffe is all about using the age-old Democrat playbook where they are falling behind, they can see this election slipping away from them, and what do they do they go to their standard playbook that he wrote. He is the Godfather of the modern Democratic Party. I mean if Bill and Hillary Clinton had a son it would be Terry McAuliffe and I guess his uncle would be Joe Biden. And this is all they do. They go back to what they’ve done for years which is to all of sudden try to make everything about race and it’s just not. This is about bringing people together. And I think we are doing an amazing job in bringing Virginians together particularly in light of how divided we’ve been. We’ve had endorsements from all kinds of groups. Small business groups, the NFIB, law enforcement community, the Hampton Roads Black Caucus, we are seeing Virginians come together around this campaign in a way that hasn’t happened in a very, very long time. That’s our path forward. Together. Not Terry McAuliffe’s divisive accusation politics which Virginians are just rejecting.
Nick Minock: "On Oct 4th the U.S. Attorney General issued a memorandum to the FBI, to U.S. Attorneys, directing them to get involved with disputes between parents – people – and school board members and school staff. School board members in Loudoun County, for example, say they’ve been receiving threats and harassment. I want to get your reaction to that. Do you agree with what President Joe Biden’s U.S. Attorney General is doing and trying to accomplish?"
Glenn Youngkin: "I absolutely do not agree with it. I think it’s a complete misuse of power. And overreach. And oh by the way what parents are doing is standing up for their children. There’s no room for violence anywhere. There’s no room for threats. But there is room for parents to stand up and express their frustration and dissatisfaction with what school boards are doing. And we have to make sure parents have a voice. This is so consistent with Terry McAuliffe’s basic view which is parents don’t have a role in their children’s education. That’s what he said. He doubled down and tripled down on it and quadrupled down on it. And then all of sudden Joe Biden turns around and says the FBI should silence parents who are standing up for their children. This is just fundamentally wrong. So that’s why parents – you saw it today in this great rally – are all coming together. This not Republicans, this is parents of all political persuasions recognizing that it’s a moment where the future is either going to be their direct right to be engaged in their children’s education under Glenn Youngkin. Or Terry McAuliffe trying in fact trying to put big government between them and their children. It’s that clear. And so I’m going to stand up for parents, children and teachers. Teachers have been reaching out like crazy – please help us teach these children how to think and stop teaching them what to think. And this is a moment for us to again reestablish parent’s primary role in their children’s education."
Nick Minock: "I’ve heard you say that when Terry McAuliffe was governor the murder rate went up 43% and the rape rate went up every single year. What would you do step by step to decrease violent crime in Virginia?"
Glenn Youngkin: "Right out of the box on day one we are going to comprehensively fund law enforcement. We are going to raise salaries, we are going to invest in equipment, and we are going to invest in training. No more unfunded mandates for training. We are going to protect qualified immunity. So that we can in fact recruit law enforcement. And stop the mass retirements. One of the basic challenges we have today is no one wants to go into law enforcement because Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam have made it nearly impossible to stay in law enforcement. This demean police and defund police posture – that oh by the way Terry McAuliffe has embraced this organization called the New Virginian Majority that wants to defund police and close prisons they are out in northern Virginia knocking on doors for him. And here we are in police week and law enforcement recognizes that they have to have a different governor who will stand up for law enforcement. But also, we are going to embrace new programs. There’s a great program called operation cease fire. And what it does is bring together communities and law enforcement to create relationship in advance of there being any need for law enforcement activity. And until we reestablish trust and faith between communities and law enforcement we are going to continue to see challenges. We have to do both. We have to invest in law enforcement and we have to invest in community law enforcement engagement. And we are going to bring a whole new approach to this. This is why 50 sheriffs have endorsed me. This is why four sheriffs have switched parties and joined the Republican Party. It’s why the Fraternal Order of Police have endorsed me. It’s why the Police Benevolent Association endorsed me. And oh by the way, Terry McAuliffe refused to even meet with them. Law enforcement doesn’t trust him. Law enforcement doesn’t believe he will have their back. And this 20 year high murder rate is a direct result of failed policies for the last eight years and I so look forward to going to work for law enforcement and go to work for communities so we can reestablish safe communities to build on for a better Virginia."
Nick Minock: "Do you have a number on how much you would put into public safety?"
Glenn Youngkin: "So we have in fact started with a recognition that there’s money both in the communities and in Richmond. So we are going to use funds from Richmond in our day one plan. We tacked back to our invest in all Virginians which is a lot of money from ARPA. And it was between $200-$300 million right out of the box that we can begin to liberate from across Virginia and all sources in order to raise salaries, invest in law enforcement, invest in our mental health system which is incredibly important. Our mental health system by the way – a side note – has been in a state of crisis since Terry McAuliffe. And what our mental health system crisis does is one it one doesn’t provide the resources for Virginians that need help desperately and it in fact leaves law enforcement to play that role and further depletes their capacity to go serve communities while they are appropriately dealing with folks dealing with a mental health crisis. So we have to do both. We have to invest in law enforcement and we have to invest in our mental health system."
Nick Minock: "Moving from crime to COVID, your Democratic opponent says you are an anti vaxxer. Is that true?"
Glenn Youngkin: This has been one of his biggest lies about me – that I’m an anti vaxxer. It’s just not true. And again he doesn’t even begin to even flirt with the truth. He’s more comfortable making things up along the way. So let’s just be clear. I’ve been a strong advocate for people to get the vaccine. I have gotten the vaccine. My family has gotten the vaccine. We ran a public service announcement – not a campaign announcement – but a public service announcement encouraging Virginians to please get the vaccine. It’s the best way to keep families safe, to keep our communities safe. I don’t believe we should mandate the vaccine. My opponent wants employers to fire employees for not getting the vaccine. Here we are coming out of a pandemic, we are ranked 44th in the nation in job recovery, and we have the lowest labor participation in the history of this statistic. And my opponent wants people to fire for not getting the vaccine. I just fundamentally believe there is a different route here. We have to one help everyone understand the real facts. We have to make the vaccine available. We were ranked 50th in the nation in the rollout of the vaccine. We have communities, underserved communities particularly that have discrepancies in vaccination rates because the vaccine hasn’t been made available – readily available. So we can do so much better. Make the vaccine available. Help people understand why it’s the best route forward, be absolute advocates for it, be ambassadors, send ambassadors out from communities about why it’s a good thing to do. But my opponent doesn’t want to do any of this. The funny thing is just 6-7 weeks ago, he shared my position that businesses should in fact be allowed to make this decision. And then he watched what happened in California. And he changed his mind based on political reasons. I want to respect individual freedom and decisions. I want to make sure people recognize the importance of getting the vaccine. My opponent wants to turn it into a political wedge. Again, that’s what 43-year politicians do. I’m not a politician. I’m going to go to work for Virginians. We can absolutely work to preserve lives and livelihoods in Virginia and that’s what I’m going to do as governor of Virginia."
Nick Minock: "Your opponent says you want to ban all abortions. Is that what you want? Do you want to defund planned parenthood as well?"
Glenn Youngkin: "Yea so again the Washington Post came out and gave him Pinocchio’s and said he completely is misrepresenting all of this"
Nick Minock: "Do you want to ban abortions?"
Glenn Youngkin: "I am pro life. I do believe in exceptions in the case of rape, and incest, and when the mother’s life is in jeopardy. I do believe we could move forward with a pain threshold bill in Virginia. Terry McAuliffe has absolutely supported a bill, he said he would sign it, that would use public funding to fund abortions all the way up through including birth. And we all remember Ralph Northam’s comments where a child would be kept comfortable while a decision is made while that child lives or dies. That is absolutely, that’s not just shameful, I don’t even know how to react to that kind of thinking. And then Terry McAuliffe comes out and says he wants to recruit businesses to Virginia by having the most liberal abortion laws? Which oh by the way, I think that is out of bounds and disqualifying to be governor. So, we in fact recognize that Virginians agree on one thing we want there to be fewer abortions. My opponent absolutely is out of bounds in his whole approach. He is the most pro-abortion candidate in America today and that’s one of the primary reasons why I believe Virginians are standing up. Because Virginians don’t support that. We in fact are going to come together to make sure outlandish regulations that Terry McAuliffe supports – which is none – funding all the way up and through including birth won’t be passed in Virginia."
Nick Minock: "One thing your democratic opponent has done is tying you to President Donald Trump. He [Trump] had a rally in Richmond recently – joined folks over the phone. There’s reports that they pledge allegiance to a flag that was flown on January 6th. Do you think that’s appropriate first of all? And what are your thoughts about your opponent tying you to President Donald trump?"
Glenn Youngkin: "Yea so I wasn’t involved in that at all. And so I just heard reports today, honestly. And gosh the whole idea of the flag thing seems kind of weird to me. And is wrong. But I don’t know enough about it yet. But it does seem weird and wrong. And I believe Terry McAuliffe is doing what you would expect from a 43-year career political operative when he sees the race slipping away is he doesn’t want to run against me. He wants to do anything he can to change this to a race against somebody else. And the reality is it’s Glenn Youngkin on the ballot against Terry McAuliffe. And Glenn Youngkin is winning. And Terry McAuliffe is falling behind and Virginians are rejecting his desire to put government in between parents and children and to raise taxes and defund police and to force everybody to join a union. Virginians just want no part in this. And all he knows to do is go back to his 43-year playbook - which he helped write this is his playbook. And try to turn this into a different kind of race. By the way he’s bringing everybody that he can possibly think of into Virginia to campaign because he can’t win. And this is why this is such a moment for us as Virginians to stand up and put our arms together and march forward behind a candidate who is going to work for them as Virginians as opposed to somebody who literally wants to have this election be about things that have nothing to do with Virginia with people that don’t have anything to do with Virginia and we are going to change this. We are going to change this and march forward and win and get Virginia moving."
Nick Minock: "One thing your Democratic opponent points to is something that you have said which is Donald Trump represents so much of why you are running. What does Donald Trump represent that compels you to run for governor?"
Glenn Youngkin: "Donald Trump was a business guy who stepped out of his business career to in fact go serve America. And I have stepped out of my business career because I think the skillset that I’ve got has got a moment right now to create jobs, to fix our schools, to support law enforcement, make our communities safe, to lower our cost of living by lowering taxes. This is what I’ve been trained for. Thirty-year business career building business and creating jobs, of getting things done, and I think there is a different skill set that is needed right now. It’s not a political skill set. It is a skillset to deliver results as we come out of this pandemic as we in fact see our economy has stalled for eight years, our schools are failing, and law enforcement has been depleted and demoralized, it’s a moment for leadership, but a different kind of leadership than Terry McAuliffe wants to provide. What he wants to do is run the same exact kinds of policies than he ran last time and didn’t get done or failed. And I’m just bringing a full fresh idea to this. We are going to press forward with the best jobs, the best schools, the safest communities, lower cost of living, and I think this is the different kind of candidate that Virginians want right now."
Nick Minock: "Final question for you. If you don’t believe in vaccine mandates – how do you plan to eliminate COVID-19 in Virginia?"
Glenn Youngkin: "I have to say that COVID-19 I believe is not going to “go away.” I think we are going to have to deal with it for a long time. And what we do know is that vaccines in fact help a ton. I’m going to continue to be very very loud – a loud megaphone on please get the vaccine. We are going to engage in communities with community leaders who will implore to their communities to get the vaccine. But we are not going to mandate it because guess what, mandating it almost makes it harder to get people to take it. And so lets do this right thing. Let's lead. Let’s lead by example, let’s lead with information. Let’s lead by respecting Virginians – Virginians' ability to make decisions on their own. And let’s in fact bring Virginia together on a path forward as opposed to just continue to divide and threaten. I mean Terry McAuliffe said into a television camera if you don’t get the vaccine he wants to make your life difficult. This is what he believes. If you disagree with Terry McAuliffe, he’s going to make your life difficult. He’s going to force you to join a union. He’s going to ask your employer to fire you if you don’t get the vaccine. He’s going to yell at a sheriff who asks him a very serious question about why he’s embraced an organization to defund police and close prisons, he’s going to yell at him. He in fact wants to raise taxes in a middle of a time when we need to lower taxes. This is not someone who is standing for Virginians. Terry McAuliffe is standing for Terry McAuliffe. And I’m going to stand for Virginians and respect Virginians and he’s going to stand for big government. And I’m going to stand for individual freedom.
Nick Minock: "Thank you for your time sir."
Glenn Youngkin: “Great, thank you.”
Caption: Glenn Youngkin interviewTERRY McAULIFFE - DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 7News Reporter Nick Minock sat down with Terry McAuliffe for an interview in Fairfax right after McAuliffe casted his ballot for the November election.
McAuliffe is the Democratic candidate in the 2021 election for Virginia governor. He's seeking a second term, after having served from 2014 to 2018. Below is the full transcript of our interview with McAuliffe. You can also watch video of the interview below.
Nick Minock: “Terry McAuliffe. Thank you for sitting down with us. The last time we had an opportunity to speak with you was at your final debate with your Republican opponent. I want to go back to something that you said in that debate. You said this, you said “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what to teach.” Are you saying parents should not have a voice in their kids’ education?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Sure, parents should have a voice. Parents do have a voice. I mean I’m a parent of five children in Fairfax County. Dorothy and I have raised five children. The issue is here in Virginia, I mean if you look at my record, I put a billion dollars in education. I got rid of five SOLs [standards of learning]. Why? When I was running for governor all the parents came up to me and said you know there’s too many tests here. Children are learning to memorize; teachers are teaching to the test. But there is a huge difference. I got into this race because of education. We are 50th of 50 states in average teacher pay as it compares to the average pay. That’s disgraceful. I’m going to raise teacher pay above the national average for the first time ever. I promise you I will get all 41,000 at-risk 3- and 4-year old’s pre-k and I will give every child broadband. Because it’s unfair during COVID that 14 percent of our children don’t have broadband. And the real difference on education, let’s be clear. Glenn Youngkin has a Donald Trump Betsey Devos plan. He has said publicly many times he will take money out of public schools and put them into private. The Washington Post just did an editorial and three independent reviews have been done on Glenn’s plan – 43,000 teachers will be cut in Virginia.”
Nick Minock: “So, did you misspeak during that debate?”
Terry McAuliffe: “No! I was talking about what we need to do, bringing people together. We have the state boards, we have the Board of Education and we have the local school boards who are all involved in this process. But the issue is how do we deliver the world class education. And the way we do that is invest in it. As I say I’m going to put $2 billion in it. And for me this is not a hope for promise. I’ve done it. I mean I built the best education system in the country when I was governor before. And I remind you that when I went into office, I had a huge deficit and I still put a billion dollars into it.”
Nick Minock: “And if you’re reelected would your future administration, your state department of education, issue mandates to schools telling them what to teach and how to teach it?”
Terry McAuliffe: “So you rely on the State Board working with the school boards to determine what is the best curriculum to give your children a world class education. Such that they can get the skills to match all the jobs I brought to the Commonwealth of Virginia. And Glenn Youngkin goes around saying to parents that he will ban critical race theory as soon as he is elected. Let me be clear: critical race theory is not taught in Virginia. Nor has it ever been taught. And I’ll be honest with you. I find it so offensive. It is a racist dog whistle and all he’s trying to do is divide parents and use children as political pawns. What every parent should be concerned about is our children getting the best skills they need to prepare them for the jobs of the 21st century. That’s what I did as governor before. And he will cut 43,000 teachers and take $10 billion out of our education system. Please don’t take my word for it. Everybody go read the Washington Post editorial or look at the three independent studies. That’s the fundamental difference on education. I will be the education governor. But he will be a governor that will divide people. He’s talking about issues that don’t even exist in Virginia. And we got to move past that. We have huge challenges with COVID. I want to keep our schools open. And let me be clear: schools are not going to stay open with Glenn Youngkin as governor. He says masks come off and teachers aren’t vaccinated. I want every teacher vaccinated. And people need to wear masks.”
Nick Minock: “I want to get your thoughts on something that is getting a lot of attention in Northern Virginia. We’ve seen, over recent months, a flurry of activity at a lot of our school boards in Loudoun County and here in Fairfax County and others. And the U.S. Attorney General came out with a memorandum on October 4th directing the FBI and US Attorneys to work with federal and state leaders to get involved with disputes between parents and school boards and school staff. Do you agree with President Joe Biden’s U.S. Attorney General in what he’s doing and trying to accomplish?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Listen. I will leave the Attorney General of the United States to make their decisions. I have no knowledge of it. They are going to make their own decisions. We want to keep our schools safe. All I’m telling you is as governor I’m going to build the best world class education. And for me I don’t care, our children, the color of one’s skin, who they love, and who they pray to. Everyone gets treated equally. The big challenge I want to do also is rebuild our schools. I need a big bond initiative. We have 50 percent of our schools are 50 years old. I was recently in Bristol, Virginia. I saw an 87 year old school that was infested with rats and bats. Your education should not be dependent on your zip code. So that’s the issues I’m going to focus on. Not divisive issues – creating divisions between parents. When I was governor, I traveled the state, met with parents, teachers, educators, and students. And that’s why I came up with all those great ideas for redesigning high school. We led the country on our redesign high school initiative. I was very proud of that. We added cyber security concepts beginning in kindergarten. We are the first state to do that. That’s what I’m going to focus on as governor. Not Glenn Youngkin coming in with his racist dog whistles and divide people. It’s just not productive.”
Nick Minock: “Let’s move to crime. Your Republican opponent said that the murder rate went up 43 percent when you were governor and the rape rate went up every single year when you were governor. What would you do differently in your second term to address violent crime and decrease violent crime in the commonwealth?”
Terry McAuliffe: “When I was Governor, I had the lowest crime rate of any major state in the United States of America. Let me say that again. The lowest crime rate of any major state in America. Not second. Not third. Not fourth. The lowest. Why? I always invested in our Sheriffs. When I took office, we had 1,000 sheriffs on food stamps. I thought that was outrageous. So, I got a $14 million allocation in the budget to get every sheriff off of food stamps. I invest in law enforcement. I invest in my state police every single year. So, I invested. But I will also tell you this: I had the toughest domestic violence law passed in a bi-partisan way with a Republican Legislature. Today in Virginia, if you have a protective order against you, you have 24 hours to hand in a firearm or you will be charged with a class six felony. Why? Five times more likely is a wife or spouse to be killed if there is a weapon in the house. So, I always leaned in to keep our communities safe and let’s be clear, Glenn Youngkin has said there’s not one gun protection bill - not one - none - he would support. He would roll back background checks. We have a law in Virginia today if you go on social media and you threaten to kill your spouse, we can go into that house and take that gun. Glenn Youngkin would roll that back. That’s why you see all Moms Demand Action and all these folks here today. He would roll back our background checks. And guess what happens. Criminals get guns and they kill police and they kill civilians. That’s not the kind of Commonwealth we want here. I mean I could only talk about my record and what was accomplished. But as I say: lowest crime rate in America. So he can have his little Trump talking points. I deal with facts. And I’m very proud. Lowest crime rate of an major state in America.”
Nick Minock: “I’ve heard you say you want to invest $2 billion in education. How much would you invest in public safety? Is there a number?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Yeah, I don’t want to go through all the numbers we are dealing with. But I know the state police are down about 320 state police officers. They need about $24 million. I can go through the entire budget if you want to do it. All I’m going to tell you is and I’ve talked to Colonel Settles and everybody else because I was there for them before. They had no issues with me. I’m the only governor to be named an honorary sheriff by the Sheriff’s Association in Virginia history. I’m the only one. Why? Because I invested in them.
*McAuliffe staffer interrupts*
Nick Minock: “We’ve heard a lot of feedback from our viewers in Virginia where you stand on COVID-19 vaccines.”
*McAuliffe staffer interrupts*
Nick Minock: “Real quick. Yes or no. Do you support vaccine mandates for state employees?
Terry McAuliffe: “Of course, I do!”
Nick Minock: “What about kids who are eligible to get the vaccine?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Wait a minute let me make this simple for you. I’m for everybody getting vaccinated.”
Nick Minock: “But to require the vaccine?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Schools, nurses, doctors, I want every employer to mandate that their employees be required to be vaccinated.”
Nick Minock: “Last March you told me that you think it should be up to businesses to require that, but you want the state to require?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Well, wait a minute I can only do what I can legally do. I can do state employees. I can’t mandate, I can be a bully pulpit. I don’t have the legal authority to do that. But clearly, I can for 122,000 state employees. And there’s a real difference in this race. Glenn Youngkin is an anti vaxxer. He goes on TV or right-wing radio and says you don’t want to get vaccinated don’t do it – there’s many good reasons not to get vaccinated. No there’s not. Ten percent of Virginia’s population has been infected. We just lost two 11-year old’s the other day. Today 1,100 children are in hospitals here in Virginia. He talks about Florida. 225,000 students today in Florida are under quarantine. 87 teachers are dead. He says day one masks off and no vaccination. I am very worried about the future of this country if we do not end COVID-19 as fast as we can and the only way we can do that is to get people vaccinated and people be safe wearing masks.”
Nick Minock: “Would you require kids in schools to get vaccinated? Whether that’s for attending school in person or participating in school sports?”
Terry McAuliffe: “Yea. If the CDC says these are safe. Then you bet. We need to do everything we can to end it. And there’s a real difference in this race. He is an anti vaxxer. As I say I worry about a variant coming along that could become vaccine resistant if we don’t stop it as fast as we can. I can’t keep schools open. We just saw a school close in Prince William yesterday. 200 hundred children in quarantine. 32 children I think it was have COVID now. We have to be smart and follow the science. And if we do that we will keep our schools open. I’m worried about women in the workforce. 5.4 million have lost their job. We need to do a better job. We have to keep our schools open, we have to do better on childcare. I mean a woman working today in healthcare today makes $7.25 an hour – home healthcare worker. She has to work 48 weeks just to pay for childcare for one child. These are the issues I’m into. I want to raise the minimum wage. I want paid sick days. I want family medical leave. Glenn Youngkin is against every one of those. He is a Donald trump right wing agenda. He will ban abortions. Your viewers should be very clear on this. He wants to ban abortions here in Virginia. He says election integrity is the number one issue. No, it isn’t. Healthcare, COVID, education, job creation.”
McAuliffe Staffer: “Alright Nick we are already over time.”
Terry McAuliffe: “Alright, we are over. That’s it. That’s it. Hey I gave you extra time. C’mon man. You should have asked better questions early on. You should have asked questions your viewers care about.”
Nick Minock: “Well, we did.”
