Youngkin won because VA Republicans bought in to a simple stereotype...and so are folks here.

[qazplm135]

38. Takes five seconds on Google

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/03/14/political-independents-who-they-are-what-they-think/

"Independents often are portrayed as political free agents with the potential to alleviate the nation’s rigid partisan divisions. Yet the reality is that most independents are not all that “independent” politically. And the small share of Americans who are truly independent – less than 10% of the public has no partisan leaning – stand out for their low level of interest in politics."

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/few-americans-who-identify-as-independent-are-actually-independent-thats-really-bad-for-politics/

"The problem is that few independents are actually independent. Roughly 3 in 4 independents still lean toward one of the two major political parties, and studies show that these voters aren’t all that different from the voters in the party they lean toward. Independents who lean toward a party also tend to back that party at almost the same rate as openly partisan voters."

Go. Read. Learn.