In some senses, Republicans face an uphill climb. Democrats have pushed hard on the abortion issue, as Audrey notes. Youngkin has not been extreme on the issue, supporting a 15-week ban, but that doesn’t stop Democrats from calling him an extremist, and voters elsewhere have bought that message in the past. Republicans have also been outspent by Democrats, who have placed lots of national focus on the campaign.

It sure would be nice to see Republicans perform well tonight by encouraging voters to turn out for a positive conservative agenda. Other circumstances might overwhelm Youngkin’s efforts, but he has run the type of campaign that conservatives should want to see from effective GOP leaders.

[I’ll have more on this later in the evening, including election-results embeds for our readers. — Ed]