GOP strategists tell us Youngkin has shown five ways to navigate this squeeze:

Embrace Trump tactics: Youngkin and his team were ruthless in torturing Democrat Terry McAuliffe with the words he most regrets: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” That sentence, part of an answer about removing books from schools, is less controversial when you watch the whole clip, including McAuliffe’s declaration: “I love teachers!” But top Democrats tell Axios McAuliffe was too slow to clean it up. Even this Sunday, McAuliffe told Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press”: “[E]verybody clapped when I said it.”

Softly embrace Trump himself: Steer clear of criticizing him, but also steer clear of standing next to him or running as a knock-off. As Peggy Noonan put it in a Wall Street Journal column: “Don’t insult Donald Trump but do everything to keep him away.” Youngkin nailed this. He shunned the T-word, pro or con.

Turn your opponent into a liberal Trump: Find words, actions, votes that paint Democrats — not your own party — as the wild, anti-democracy, close-minded ones. Youngkin found fertile ground in culture wars — mask requirements, transgender bathrooms and teaching on race — unfolding in Loudoun County, the exurban bellwether beyond D.C.’s Beltway.