Donald Trump Says Democrats Lost in Virginia by Focusing on Him Too Much

Former President Donald Trump has said Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe lost the Virginia governor's race because he focused too much on the former Republican president.

Trump gave an interview to Fox News about the race, published on Saturday morning, and criticized McAuliffe as "foolish" and a "terrible candidate" who spent too much time talking about him.

Republican Glenn Youngkin scored an upset victory against McAuliffe in the state President Joe Biden won by a 10-point margin in the November presidential election.

Trump told Fox News: "If you look at what happened in Virginia, it's very interesting. They used my name - the Democrats - so much that they ended up losing."

The former president said that McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor, was defeated because he focused too much on him.

"One of the reasons [he] lost is because he kept saying Trump, Trump, Trump," Trump said.

Democrats had sought to tie Youngkin to the former president throughout the campaign and framed the gubernatorial election as a referendum on Trump, while Youngkin kept Trump at a distance.

Trump endorsed Youngkin but did not campaign for him in person. By contrast, President Biden traveled to Virginia in support of McAuliffe, as did former President Barack Obama.

Trump issued a statement following Youngkin's win on Tuesday praising his own supporters and he reiterated the sentiment in his comments to Fox News.

"And the greatest base in the history of politics came out at a level that they never would have if he wasn't so foolish — and I'm using a nice word — foolish," he said. "He was a terrible candidate on the Democrat side, and Glenn was a very good candidate and a gracious candidate."

Despite keeping his distance from Trump, the former president said Youngkin had called him on the day after the election and "really thanked me because he understood the importance of what we did."

Trump said that "Democrats played it wrong because they went after Trump."

"They put me on the ballot. The Democrats put me on the ballot," he said.

The former president called Youngkin's win a "great victory" and said Virginia "is much more red than they think, OK? I don't really see that as a fully blue state."

Virginia voters chose Biden over Trump by 10 points in 2020 and awarded the state's Electoral College votes to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. No Republican presidential candidate has won the state since former President George W. Bush in 2004.

Nonetheless, McAuliffe's defeat in Virginia is being seen as a blow to the Democratic Party and a possible warning about what to expect in the 2022 midterm elections.