Yep, didn't give him much of a chance, but McAuliffe is such a typical party hack. His education remarks just illustrated how out of touch he is with average folks with children in public schools. Youngkin is a long time Va. citizen, and a political outsider.
People are tired of political candidates that have been pushed/funded on them from what they consider outside the state sources. The democrats circling the wagons issue with black face and really callous remarks on abortion from the current Va. gov. have been a factor as well, probably a 3-4 point factor for the republicans. They were seen as hypocritical by many.
The guy who should be running for the republicans now is Kirk Cox. Va. native, speaker of the house for several terms, a former teacher, a guy who knew the political game, but was focussed on running the state, not being a political party hack. He just wasn't a flashy, exciting candidate, and he just never got enough traction.
Those types of candidates are the ones who I wish were our elected officials, regardless of the side of the aisle they come from. People who looked at public service as a duty, and serving the people, and not a party were their goals.