Glenn Youngkin and the ‘Election Integrity’ Myth in Virginia

The GOP gubernatorial candidate has said President Joe Biden is legitimate. But that didn’t stop him from attending an “election integrity” event at Liberty University.

LYNCHBURG – The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, attended an “election integrity” rally this weekend, despite previous assertions that he doesn’t believe in the widespread lie that the election of President Joe Biden was illegitimate.

The Virginia Department of Elections in March certified that the November 2020 General Election results in Virginia accurately portrayed the winners of the presidential and Senate races in that election. The “risk-adjusted” audit measured the possibility of finding a mistake that could reverse the election results. In their March audit, VDOE found that possibility fell well below the risk measurement threshold of 0.1, coming in at a risk assessment of .0000065117 for the presidential race and .0000424172 for the Senate race. 

RELATED: Virginia Officials Turn in Results of Statewide Election Audit 

The 5th Congressional District GOP hosted the event Youngkin attended, which was held at Liberty University on Friday and Saturday. 

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the website for the rally originally included the Republican nominee for attorney general Jason Miyares and the Republican lieutenant governor nominee Winsome Sears as featured guests. However, following a public outcry from leaders of the Virginia Democratic Party against the event, the candidates announced on Twitter that they would instead be attending a campaign event together in Fairfax. 

According to the Times-Dispatch, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe also called on Youngkin to skip the event on July 27. 

“Glenn Youngkin will headline a rally inspired by Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory that led to a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol,” said McAuliffe. 

Press were not allowed to attend the GOP’s events in Lynchburg this weekend, so we don’t know what Younkin said to those gathered at the rally. According to the Washington Post, his campaign said he had only agreed to “stop-by” the event last week. According to the Times-Dispatch, the Miyares and Sears campaigns say they never actually committed to attending the ‘election integrity’ event. 

Earlier this month protesters, including Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase, continued questioning President Joe Biden’s legitimacy without evidence at a gathering in Richmond.