On Tuesday night, candidates for Virginia's governor race duked it out on the debate stage in the second and final debate leading up to November's election.
During the debate, Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, who previously served as governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018, stated that "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."
McAuliffe reportedly made the comment in response to Glenn Youngkin, who said that parents should in fact be more involved in the decisions of local school districts.
According to Fox News, "At the debate, Youngkin agreed that local school districts should make those decisions, but he demanded they include parents in the dialogue and 'concepts of safety and privacy' in the discussion."
"What we've seen over the course of this last 20 months is our school systems refusing to engage with parents. In fact in Fairfax County this past week, we watched parents so upset because there was such sexually explicit material in the library they had never seen, it was shocking," Youngkin said.
"And in fact, you vetoed the bill that would have informed parents that they were there. You believe school systems should tell children what to do. I believe parents should be in charge of their kids' education."
McAuliffe said that parents "had the right to veto books" under the bill he vetoed. "I'm not going to let parents come into schools, and actually take books out, and make their own decision," he said.
Following the debate, Youngkin slammed McAuliffe in an interview with WUSA9 Wednesday morning.
"Terry McAuliffe last night actually said that parents shouldn't have anything to say about their children's education, school boards shouldn't listen to them. I mean, this is in his heart," said Youngkin.
"He wants unions and government to dictate what our children learn and think and do, and this is a moment for Virginians to come together and say no," Youngkin continued. "As parents we should have much more to say about how our kids are taught and what they're taught."
"Terry McAuliffe just rejects that wholeheartedly. So Virginians are ready to choose a different kind of governor. A governor who knows how to get things done… He in fact is going to try to tell our kids what to think, and I'm gonna teach our kids how to think," Youngkin concluded.
McAuliffe called Youngkin a "dangerous Trump wannabe" in a tweet following the debate, saying that the "stakes in this race couldn't be higher."
"Tonight made it clear, the stakes in this race couldn't be higher. Folks, we're up against a dangerous Trump wannabe who will set us back BIG TIME," McAuliffe tweeted. "We're building the largest grassroots movement in VA history to defeat him."
According to the RealClearPolicitcs average, McAuliffe is leading Youngkin by just shy of three points. That poll was taken between August 26 and September 26, and does not take into account statements made during this final debate.
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