Democrats may very well take a pounding in the Virginia gubernatorial race. McAuliffe has run out of steam and is now purely on the defensive. Youngkin has Big Mo and his people are the hunters, not the prey, which is unusual for Republicans in Virginia these days. FNC pundit Deroy Murdock clues us in on the final days of the donnybrook.

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Murdock: As the November 2 ballot’s highest profile contest, the battle for Virginia’s governorship has become a referendum on the Big Government approach of the out-of-touch, Democrat left. As Virginia’s chief executive from 2014 to 2018, former Democratic Party national chairman, and consigliere to the Clinton crime family, few people epitomize establishment socialism better than Terry McAuliffe.

Glenn Youngkin, McAuliffe’s ascendant opponent, is a quintessential Republican office seeker. This successful outsider aims to harness his private-sector success and rein in a runaway public sector that has betrayed its citizens. Youngkin was co-CEO of the Carlyle Group financial house before this, his first race.

McAuliffe and Youngkin are tied at 46 percent each, according to an October 16-19 Monmouth University survey of 1,005 registered Virginia voters. (Margin of error: +/- 3.1 percent.) While 91 percent of Democrats backed McAuliffe, 94 percent of Republicans supported Youngkin, as did 48 percent of independents versus 39 percent for McAuliffe. Just 6 percent of Blacks favored Youngkin; 80 percent picked McAuliffe. But 32 percent of Hispanics stood with Youngkin versus 58 percent with McAuliffe.

This showdown previews next year’s pivotal midterm elections: Will Democrats hold Capitol Hill and, with the White House, maintain their grip on Washington’s levers of power? Or will disappointed voters — increasingly appalled by Biden’s mumbling, stumbling, tumbling performance — dispatch the donkeys to the glue factory?

As the Democrats’ de facto standard bearer on November 2, McAuliffe stepped into it, big time, in a September 28 debate with Youngkin. McAuliffe committed the ultimate gaffe, which journalist Michael Kinsley memorably dubbed “when a politician tells the truth.”

Asked to address parental complaints about sexually explicit books and curricula, McAuliffe said: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Within hours, Team Youngkin made McAuliffe’s quote world famous, via TV ads, social media, and widespread news coverage. After McAuliffe’s torpedo tore open his own hull, he claimed in an ad — what else? — “Glenn Youngkin is taking my words out of context.” …

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An overflow crowd of some 1,000 people lined up to see Youngkin on Tuesday night. The turnout was so huge that he addressed a packed facility indoors and later spoke with voters who were kept outside. This would be impressive in Virginia’s Republican-rich Appomattox or Shenandoah counties. Even better for Youngkin, this scene unfolded in suburban Burke, in Fairfax County. This once conservative northern-Virginia locale lately has slithered Left, thanks to incoming Democrats. Youngkin’s crowded rally saw him rising at just the right time.