Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – An assortment of Republican critics of Trump’s former president claimed responsibility Friday for a Virginia governor’s race demonstration that recalled a infamous rally held in 2017 in the state.

The Lincoln Project claimed it was behind the use tiki torches in front of the Republican candidate’s bus, which mimicked the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. A car that was driven by a self-described neo Nazi crashed into a crowd, killing a counterprotester.

It was widely believed that Tuesday’s closely contested vote between Glenn Youngkin (a Republican former executive in private equity) and Terry McAuliffe (a former governor), is a hint at next year’s midterm election.

“Today’s demonstration is our way to remind Virginians about Charlottesville, four years ago. The Republican Party’s embrace and Glenn Youngkin’s failure condemn it,” said the Lincoln Project in a statement.

Youngkin was approached by five men wearing white shirts, black pants, dark shades, baseball caps, and tiki torches on Friday morning. They said that they were all “in for Glenn”, and then remained at the front of the bus throughout his campaign event.

Youngkin claimed that the protestors were sent to him by his enemies. The Democratic Party of Virginia denies involvement.

Trump was the president of the August 11, 2017, “Unite the Right”, rally. He was criticised for saying that there were initially “fine people” on each side in the conflict between neo Nazis and their rivals at the rally.

Recent polls show McAuliffe slightly ahead or in a statistical dead heat https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-democrats-republicans-spend-heavily-virginia-ahead-governor-election-2021-10-21 in a state where President Joe Biden beat Trump by 10 percentage points last year.

They have both spent heavily in the race to test how Republicans fare when Trump isn’t on it and what momentum they have for their attempt to regain control over the two narrowly divided Houses of Congress next year.