Thread by @Telegraph

🇺🇸 The Republican Party of the 2020s is beset by a conundrum.

How does it maintain the support of Trump's most ardent followers while also winning back moderate conservatives in the suburbs?

➡️In Virginia on Tuesday they found an answer

Thread 👇🧵
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

It is a 'Goldilocks' strategy on the former president - not too hot, not too cold.

📅 It's a blueprint for how to retake control of Congress in next year's midterm elections, and then the White House in 2024

The man who provided the solution was Glenn Youngkin.

📈 In his trademark "suburban Dad" fleece vest Mr Youngkin, a father-of-four, was effectively a "Trump Lite" Republican candidate in the race to be governor of Virginia, a state Joe Biden won by 10 points last year

He was able to woo moderate Republican families living behind white picket fences in the suburbs of Washington DC.

🗣️But, at the same time, he repeatedly point blank refused to denounce Donald Trump

Donald Trump urged his "MAGA base" to "flood the polls" for Mr Youngkin, who he called a "great gentleman"

telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

🏫 Crucially, Mr Youngkin also found a newly emerging issue which united all Republicans, including Mr Trump - increased parental control over what their children are taught in schools

❌ In particular, in recent months, there have been astonishing scenes at school board meetings in Virginia, and elsewhere in the US, as parents protest against the teaching of Critical Race Theory

telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…

It was wealthy suburbs like Loudoun where Mr Trump lost the 2020 election as moderate conservatives were turned off by his rhetoric and tweets.

But Mr Youngkin surged in Loudoun, holding his final campaign event there and billing it a "Parents Matter" rally

🇺🇸 Republican candidates everywhere will campaign from the same playbook in the midterm elections next year.

Read more about the 'Goldilocks' strategy 👇
telegraph.co.uk/world-news/202…