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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is on the campaign trail, rallying Republicans to take full control of the General Assembly in November and fueling talk about a potential late-in-the-game White House run.
“The most important election in the nation, I believe, is Virginia this year. We are laser-focused on holding our House, winning our Senate and getting [state Senate candidate] Bill Woolf and the other great Republican candidates elected,” Mr. Youngkin told reporters Tuesday during a campaign stop for Mr. Woolf in Manassas.
When asked by The Washington Times about reports of News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch encouraging him to run for the White House, Mr. Youngkin responded, “I meet lots of people, and I’m always so humbled by the fact that people are encouraging us to do what we’re doing in Virginia outside Virginia.”
He added, “But we’re focused on Virginia, and what is so nice is that people appreciate what’s happening here. And what we are doing is exactly what we said we’re going to do. We have lowered the cost of living, we have backed the blue, we have reestablished excellence in education. It works.”
According to a poll this month released by L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, if the election were held today in Virginia and the candidates were President Biden and Mr. Youngkin, 44% of Virginians said they would vote for Mr. Youngkin, while 37% would vote for the president.
If the candidates were Mr. Biden and former President Donald Trump, 43% of those surveyed said they would vote for Mr. Biden and 40% for Mr. Trump. If the candidates were Mr. Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, each candidate would receive 41%.
In the meantime, Mr. Youngkin is traveling around the Commonwealth’s 125 counties to flip the state Senate to GOP control while maintaining his party’s majority in the House of Delegates. He’s zeroing in on family, public safety and education-oriented issues, many of which helped launch his successful 2021 gubernatorial bid.
Tuesday’s GOP campaign scene in Manassas was familiar to Mr. Youngkin. He previously introduced himself to voters in the summer of 2021 inside Virginia diners while pitching his vision.
The Virginia Republican bounded into a Manassas diner, now amid applause and familiarity, as an experienced state executive seeking to use his political capital to lift Republican candidates across the state and complete legislative goals he set out early in his political tenure.
Senate Democrats have blocked legislation pushed forward by Virginia Republicans that would require parental permission for minors to have a social media account. Another GOP bill was blocked that would have banned social media companies from harvesting Virginians’ personal data and selling it.
Republican legislation that charged fentanyl dealers with a felony homicide indictment if their victims die was also stopped in the Assembly’s upper chamber.
“Of course, the progressive left in the Senate voted it down. They chose social media over families and parents. … They chose dealers over victims,” Mr. Youngkin said. “And today we’re fighting again for budget money. Why? Because when we cut taxes and give tax relief with $4 billion last year, our economy is roaring. We have a $5 billion surplus again.”
The Virginia Republican’s Spirit of Virginia, a political action committee, has raised over $6 million in messaging to help the GOP around the state that tells supporters they should cast their ballots when early voting begins Sept. 22.
Each table at the diner shows voters how to cast their ballots early with palm cards complete with QR codes that link to a website.
Should Republicans be successful in November, Mr. Youngkin would have a better chance to launch a solid presidential bid in 2024, some have said.
Still, the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics’ Kyle Kondik doubts this theory, telling The Times the results of the Virginia legislative elections will not have much impact in this regard.
Additionally, filing deadlines for presidential candidates are just around the corner. Alabama’s deadline is Nov. 10.
“It seems like the sort of thing that reporters and elites will pay a lot of attention to, but not rank-and-file voters — and media and elites don’t have a ton of sway in the GOP right now,” he said. “If Youngkin is to become a presidential candidate, and a strong one at that, it would be because he presents himself well to a national electorate and because something would have happened to knock Trump off his perch. But even if the latter happens, it’s not obvious that Youngkin would be the one to fill the void.”
Mr. Kondik says a lot of wishful thinking is going on among Republicans who don’t want Trump to be renominated.
“DeSantis has run a weak campaign so far, so party elites are casting around for someone else,” he said. “But it’s also often the case that candidacies look better in theory than they do in practice; that has been the case for DeSantis. Youngkin (or another late entrant) would have to contend with that challenge, too.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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