After Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie in the Virginia governor race on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump wasted no time in noting that Gillespie did not fully embrace the Trump administration during the campaign.
Trump suggested that the distance Gillespie kept from the administration cost him the governor’s mansion. The President also noted that Republicans won four special elections for House seats this year in an apparent attempt to paint the results in Virginia as a fluke.
Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017
Trump backed Gillespie during the Virginia gubernatorial race in several tweets, but he did not hit the campaign trail for the Virginia Republican. Gillespie did not run explicitly as a pro-Trump candidate but employed some ads touting policies favored by Trump.
