Prominent CRT opponent declares Youngkin win a 'political sea change' and a 'massive loss for Joy Reid'

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Prominent critical race theory opponent Christopher Rufo predicted a seismic shift in the country following GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin's victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race. 

"This is a political sea change," Rufo told Fox News on Tuesday night. "Glenn Younkin two months ago made fighting against critical race theory and the systematic state-sanctioned abuse of Virginia school kids, the centerpiece and the closing argument of his campaign. And he showed that the lies from MSNBC, from the Washington Post and from the New York Times could not hide the simple truth that a strong majority of Virginia voters, including Republicans, Independents and Democrats, reject the toxic politics of critical race theory and want to restore merit-based education oriented towards excellence."

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"And this is a massive political loss for the liars and ideologues, such as Joy Reid, who have attempted to blind the public, to what's happening within American institutions. And I'm proud to say that this is a massive W for Glenn Younkin and an equally massive L for Joy Reid," Rufo added. 

Earlier this year, Rufo had a wild on-air clash with MSNBC host Joy Reid, who rejected the idea that CRT was an actual issue facing Americans. 

Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Follow him on Twitter at @realchrisrufo and sign up for his newsletter. (Christopher F. Rufo)

Rufo, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow, has become a national figure for putting a spotlight on the CRT ideology that has emerged in schools and institutions across the country, told Fox News a "new special interest group" has been born: "middle-class suburban parents."

"They rallied to Glenn Youngkin's side, who ran an optimistic, positive, visionary campaign," Rufo said. He was unafraid to take the issue of critical race theory forward and it and he deserves immense credit… And it's all about building a majority, bipartisan, multiracial coalition with a bedrock of parents and families and making sure that our institutions work for them."

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Rufo blasted Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe as an "entitled, lifetime, operative and bureaucrat who showed reckless disregard for the safety and hopes and dreams of the people of Virginia." He called McAuliffe's decision to campaign with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten the final day before the election an "atrocious mistake," proving that McAuliffe "wasn't his own man" but rather a "tool for the teachers' unions."

(AP)

The CRT critic is now hoping to "take this model of victory," "replicate it in all 14,000 school districts" across the country and "take back the institutions from the corrupt ideologues and bureaucrats that have had them for too long."

Rufo was pessimistic as to whether or not the media will learn its lesson after spending the past year dismissing the issue of CRT, saying "On one hand, I know how dishonest they are" but "on the other hand, I also know how incompetent they've become."

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"The only thing that we know with certainty today is that this campaign, this coordinated media campaign to deny the existence of critical race theory despite mountains of documented evidence didn't fool the voters of Virginia, didn't fool a huge swath of Biden voters that crossed over because of this issue to vote for Glenn Younkin and it's not going to fool the American people who now oppose critical race theory by massive margins. And so I hope that they will continue this campaign of denial because ultimately, it's a campaign of losing," Rufo added.