Youngkin Blames Dems For Tiki Torch Activists Outside Campaign Bus: ‘They Work For Terry McAuliffe’

Glenn Youngkin, the GOP candidate for Virginia’s governor, blamed Democrats after a group of tiki torch-toting activists claiming to be his supporters posed outside his campaign bus on Friday.

Youngkin campaigned in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Friday when the activists posed outside his campaign bus. Charlottesville was the site of the Unite the Right rally in 2017 in which white nationalists and neo-Nazis, many carrying tiki torches, marched through the city amidst a Confederate statue debate.

“These men approached @GlennYoungkin’s bus as it pulled up saying what sounded like, ‘We’re all in for Glenn.’ Here they are standing in front of the bus as his campaign event at Guadalajara started,” NBC 29 anchor Elizabeth Holmes tweeted along with a picture of five self-professed Youngkin supporters lined up outside the Republican’s campaign bus.

These men approached @GlennYoungkin’s bus as it pulled up saying what sounded like, “We’re all in for Glenn.” Here they are standing in front of the bus as his campaign event at Guadalajara started.@NBC29 pic.twitter.com/l681ejyBjc

— Elizabeth Holmes (@holmes_reports) October 29, 2021

The image sparked an immediate condemnation from the campaign of former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, Youngkin’s Democratic opponent. “This is disgusting and disqualifying,” McAuliffe spokeswoman Jen Goodman said.

When asked about the tiki torch activists claiming to be his supporters, Youngkin said the group likely consisted of Democratic operatives sent to tarnish his campaign in the final days of the election.

“I think they work for Terry McAuliffe, and I’m sure he sent them,” Youngkin said, according to NBC 29. “They’ll do anything to win, and he’s doing anything to win, and so he’s paying people to show up and act silly at our rallies.”

Youngkin’s claim echoed the claims of many online who pointed to either McAuliffe’s campaign or the Democratic Party of Virginia for organizing a political stunt against the GOP candidate. Both camps issued denials of having anything to do with the tiki torch activists.

“This was not us or anyone affiliated with our campaign,” McAuliffe’s campaign said in a statement to NBC 29.

“The Democratic Party of Virginia, along with its coordinated partners and its affiliates, did not have any role today in the events that happened outside the Youngkin campaign bus stop today,” the Democratic Party of Virginia said in a statement.

The state party went on to connect the stunt to the 2017 Unite the Right rally, in which one woman died after a man drive his car into a crowd of