President Donald Trump got it wrong when he tweeted Tuesday night that Republican Ed Gillespie didn't embrace his issues, political scientist Larry Sabato said.
"Ed Gillespie worked hard, but did not embrace me or what I stand for," Trump tweeted after Gillespie lost the Virginia governor's race.
"Well, yes, Gillespie didn't have him in the campaign, but he certainly embraced his issues and then some," Sabato said on MSNBC's "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell."
Gillespie "campaigned on immigration and crime and football players taking a knee and Confederate monuments," Sabato said. "And Virginians stood up — a very large majority — and said, 'No thank you.'"
Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and adviser to President George W. Bush, was defeated by Democrat Ralph Northam in a race that tightened in the final days.
Virginia did not vote for Trump in the 2016 election, and Gillespie did align himself with the president by name. But Northam's campaign sought to tie Gillespie to Trump, especially in northern districts of the state that vote Democratic.
Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said Northam's victory, was a warning for Republicans in competitive districts in the House and Senate and governorships.
"That's the big place where Democrats can make gains next year," Sabato said.
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