Down-Ballot Successes in Virginia and New Jersey Give Republicans Confidence Heading Into 2022

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin shoots an autographed basketball into the crowd with his family at an election-night rally at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles in Chantilly, Va., on Nov. 2, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) President Dee Duncan said that this week’s down-ballot seat flips in statehouse elections in Virginia and New Jersey revealed a part of the bigger picture the party plans to unveil in 2022, when 36 states hold elections.

“A lot of thought and data went into this and we won round one of the fight for the ‘22 cycle,” Duncan said, according to Fox News, referring to the Republican Glenn Youngkin’s recent victory over former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Virginia.