Terry McAuliffe in 2013 Virginia gubernatorial debates
On Abortion:
Supports abortion rights
Cuccinelli & McAuliffe disagreed on just about every issue, including abortion. McAuliffe suggested Cuccinelli campaigned for the state Senate in Fairfax on transportation so he could oppose abortion rights once he got elected. "You come in pretending to
be one thing and then you say something else," McAuliffe said, calling Cuccinelli the "true Trojan horse of Virginia politics." Cuccinelli has been decried by Democrats as an extremist who is hostile to women on such issues as abortion.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch on 2013 Virginia governor debates
Jul 21, 2013
On Civil Rights:
Supports marriage equality for gays
Asked about gay marriage, McAuliffe said he supported equality and would sign a bill giving gays the right to marry in Virginia if it ever got to his desk. Then he pivoted on Cuccinelli, saying the attorney general had "continually attacked gay
Virginians," referencing the attorney general's remarks on gay lifestyle, and his letter to colleges and universities instructing them to remove sexual orientation from their anti-discrimination language. "There are consequences to mean-spirited,
hateful comments," McAuliffe said, after suggesting that Cuccinelli's position on gay issues and abortion nearly jeopardized Northrop Grumman from locating its corporate headquarters in the state.Cuccinelli said his views on homosexuality or gay
marriage had not changed, but he was ready for the attack. "The notion that because I believe marriage ought to be protected, because I believe life begins at conception ... there are lots of Virginians who share my sincerely held beliefs."
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch on 2013 Virginia governor debates
Jul 21, 2013
On Energy & Oil:
Co-founded GreenTech electric car company, in Mississippi
Cuccinelli has been especially critical of GreenTech, the electric car company that McAuliffe co-founded, because it considered placing a factory in Southside Virginia but chose to put it in Mississippi instead after getting a generous incentive
package from that state's government.McAuliffe said that he "would love to have put a plant in Virginia" but that companies have a "fiduciary" duty to investors.
"Okay, you picked Mississippi, so run for governor of Mississippi," Cuccinelli said.
Source: Washington Post on 2013 Virginia governor debates
Jul 21, 2013
On Health Care:
Supports ObamaCare's expanding the state's Medicaid program
Cuccinelli reiterated his opposition to President Obama's health-care plan, but he also criticized Obama for not following his own law by postponing the legislation's employer mandate for one year.
McAuliffe, meanwhile, made clear that he still supports the law and stressed that he thinks Virginia should accept the measure's invitation to expand the state's Medicaid program, which Cuccinelli opposes.
Source: Washington Post on 2013 Virginia governor debates
Jul 21, 2013
On Immigration:
Support the DREAM Act for legalizing minors
On immigration, McAuliffe said it would be "one of my finest hours" as governor if he could sign a state version of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to some immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally as minors.
Cuccinelli said he wanted to see "some sort of compromise reached on immigration" and said a path to citizenship "could be part of the proposal."
Source: Washington Post on 2013 Virginia governor debates
Jul 21, 2013
On Energy & Oil:
2012: Started GreenTech electric car company & soon resigned
Terry McAuliffe appeared with his good friend Bill Clinton at the ribbon-cutting for Mr. McAuliffe's electric car company in July 2012, the campaign-style event, complete with "Born in the U.S.A." blaring.McAuliffe resigned as GreenTech's chairman
last year but publicly acknowledged it only this month. Documents have surfaced questioning his explanation for why he located the plant in Mississippi, not Virginia, including memos from Virginia officials expressing "grave doubts" about his business
model and suggesting its financing was a "visa-for-sale scheme" for Chinese investors.
McAuliffe said the struggles of GreenTech--which once promised 1,500 jobs but today employs only 78 at its plant--are typical of any start-up in a tough
economy. "How many people start electric car companies?" he said in an interview. "How many do it in a recession?"
Ken Cuccinelli has seized on the GreenTech saga in an attempt to attack McAuliffe's chief asset as a candidate, his business acumen.
Source: New York Times on 2013 Virginia governor debates
Apr 26, 2013
Page last updated: Dec 05, 2018