Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin runs attack ad against Toni Morrison's 'Beloved,' McAuliffe

A week before Virginia voters pick their next governor, Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin released an ad featuring a woman, Laura Murphy, criticizing Democrat Terry McAuliffe for previously vetoing a bill that would have allowed parents statewide to opt their children out of reading any book with explicit material. The bill, dubbed the "Beloved bill," stemmed from Murphy's crusade to ban Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Beloved from Fairfax County classrooms.

Youngkin's ad, which centers on how inappropriate Morrison's book is, doesn't mention Beloved or Toni Morrison. "When my son showed me his reading material, my heart sunk," Murphy says. "It was some of the most explicit reading material you can imagine." Her son, Blake Murphy, was assigned Beloved, a novel about the haunting horrors of slavery, as a senior in his college-level Advanced Placement English class.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.