From the McAuliffe for governor campaign:
MCLEAN, VA – Terry McAuliffe today released the following statement welcoming Salesforce employees to relocate from Texas to Virginia following Texas’s draconian abortion ban. Salesforce recently offered to relocate employees living in Texas who wish to move to a more open and welcoming state. As soon as this law went into effect, Terry made it clear to major companies that he will never allow such dangerous and divisive social agendas to pass here in Virginia. This builds on Terry’s record as Virginia’s 72nd Governor, when he recruited CoStar from North Carolina after it passed the now-infamous right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation – highlighting the importance of keeping the Commonwealth open and welcoming for all.
“My message to companies like Salesforce is clear: come to Virginia – where we remain open and welcoming, and opposed to dangerous abortion bans that put women’s health and lives at risk – all of which Glenn Youngkin would enact as governor. We’ve seen these extreme right-wing attacks on reproductive health in Virginia before, and as governor I fought back against every single one. I kept women’s health clinics open when extreme right wing Republicans like Glenn Youngkin tried to force them to close, and I vetoed every anti-women’s health bill including multiple efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. This dangerous Texas law is exactly what Glenn has in mind when he says he wants to go ‘on offense’ to ban abortion in the Commonwealth. The fact is it is dangerous, it would harm our economy, and I will not let it happen in Virginia.”
Terry has long been a champion of women’s reproductive rights. As Virginia’s 72nd Governor, he successfully fought back against attempts to close all women’s health clinics in Virginia and kept the clinics open, and he vetoed multiple bills that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. He has been been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia due to his strong record.
Glenn Youngkin has made his dangerous agenda clear – he will ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood if he is elected governor. The draconian abortion ban that passed in Texas is exactly what Glenn Youngkin and his right wing ticket have in mind for the Commonwealth. Youngkin’s running mate, Winsome Sears, even said that she supports bringing a Texas-style ban to Virginia. Earlier this year, Youngkin was caught on tape admitting to his supporters that he will go “on offense” on these issues if elected but that he is trying to hide his out-of-touch views to not lose votes in the election. Glenn Youngkin’s dangerous agenda is out-of-touch with Virginia voters, as reproductive rights are overwhelmingly supported by almost 80% of Virginians.
Terry has released 19 detailed plans to strengthen Virginia’s education system and dramatically increase teacher pay, help secure Virginia’s economic recovery from COVID-19, reform our criminal justice system, ensure Virginians have access to regular nutritious meals, address the broken, predatory system of prescription drug pricing, confront the gun violence epidemic, make Virginia the best state in the nation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Health Care (STEM-H) and computer science education, tackle the housing crisis in the Commonwealth and invest in Virginia’s workforce in the post-COVID economy, ensure Virginians have access to high-quality, affordable health care, tackle climate change and secure Virginia’s clean energy future by 2035, lift up Black Virginians as the Commonwealth rebuilds from the COVID-19 pandemic, further advance LGBTQ+ rights, create a flourishing rural economy, support entrepreneurial ecosystems and tackle rising costs and meet the health care needs, make higher education more affordable, boost Virginia’s agriculture and forestry industries, and protect seniors from COVID-19 and ensure quality and affordability later in life.