It’s my first year voting in an election, and like most, I have to choose between two equally bad nominees. The Va. Governor nominees are Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin. Of course you can argue this every election, but this one, no-one seems sure about who they actually support at heart, and even I’m confused.
My main issue is that both candidates are dislikable. Youngkin is too republican for my liking, I would be even willing to call him “Trump-ish”. McAuliffe has policies in the making that I deeply dislike. The mud-flinging commercials were horrid for both, mainly for the “at least I’m not him!” statements.  Glenn Youngkin’s education plan is good except for how they’re funding and critical race theory, which he wants to ban in schools. This is all coming from the Washington Post and WRIC articles that have written about the education plan. McAuliffe wants to increase teacher pay, access to Pre-K programs, and access to broadband internet. My main issue with this is the broadband internet. In most rural communities, it’s hard to get people to sign off on anything new, mainly because of the fear of becoming urbanized. So how exactly is he going to provide this? Furthermore, what does this mean about our taxes?  Another issue would be gun control, no matter where you stand, it’s a hot-topic. Mcauliffe’s plan is to ban the sale of “assault weapons,” high capacity magazines, and ghost guns. As well as ban the sale of firearms to that of a person convicted of a hate crime, strengthen back-ground checks, prohibit open carry and give localities the flexibility to ban it, and create an “Office of Gun Violence Protection.” Most of these I agree with, with the exception of the main bans. What identifies an “assault weapon,” a “high capacity magazine”? Furthermore, how are you going to get high capacity magazines, and “ghost guns” off the street? More so, how will you enforce the law on illegal manufacturing? On the other hand, Youngkin hasn’t publicly addressed a need for gun control, however has hinted that he plan’s to strengthen law enforcement. The lack of a plan makes no sense given the gun violence being a constantly growing issue in America.
These are two main issues for both campaigns, yet both are so, iffy. Both have a near equal amount of pros and cons on most issues, which makes it hard to say who I support in what issue. Even on the smaller issues such as economic plans, police reform, climate change, and LGBT rights, it’s confusing to say who I support.
In all, I feel like the lack of more options has made the election especially hard. America’s two-party system is most certainly exposing its ugly head, as the lack of more options has led to two candidates that are just hard to support. Hopefully we’ll end up with better nominees in 2024.