Glenn Youngkin’s First Fifteen Months

The Republican governor has led a GOP offensive in the Commonwealth
By Robert Mish, ‘25

(Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, governor.virginia.gov)

After fifteen months of the Youngkin administration, the question remains: how has the commonwealth fared under Mr. Youngkin’s leadership?

On January 15th, 2022, Glenn Youngkin assumed office as the governor of The Commonwealth of Virginia. Mr. Youngkin’s election campaign centered on a platform of moderate conservatism, focusing on increased transparency in public schools, lower taxes for corporations, and strong support for law enforcement.

Virginia has not had a Republican governor since the ill-fated McDonnell administration ended in disgrace in 2014. The continued expansion of the greater DC metropolitan area had all but solidified Democrat control of the state, and the most recent partisan voter index provided by the Cook Political Report shows Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a three percent margin. Glenn Youngkin, however, possessed the necessary moderate qualities to capture independent votes while maintaining hard-line, right-wing support.

Day-one executive actions from the governor included measures to eliminate critical race theory from the classroom and to end the Covid-19 regulations that had plagued many Virginia school districts. Mr. Youngkin has also worked to make do on his long-term campaign promises. Tax cuts were an early focus of the Youngkin administration, and in 2022, the Governor signed approximately $4 billion in cuts into law. The reduction of the state grocery tax, a campaign promise of the Governor, also came into effect beginning in 2023.

While the Youngkin administration insisted that the sizable state budget surplus will fund these tax cuts, state Democrats argued that surplus funds are better suited to fund public housing and school construction. This year, an additional $1 billion in corporate tax cuts failed to pass through the Democrat controlled State Senate, but Mr. Youngkin still champions last year’s tax legislation as a win for his administration. 

Although  the governor has achieved success pushing his proposals through the General Assembly, the Democrat-controlled Senate has stifled progress for the Governor’s most polarizing proposals, such as a new abortion law.

When the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not guarantee a woman’s right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson, Mr. Youngkin voiced support of any bill introduced by the state legislature aimed at protecting unborn lives in the Commonwealth. The State Senate, however, killed a proposed fifteen week ban before the bill made it to the governor’s desk. 

In April of 2023, Youngkin proposed changes to a popular bill that would require pornography websites to strictly verify that users were at least eighteen years old. The governor’s proposal also expanded identification requirements to all large websites and social media platforms that record users’ personal information, all while including a regulation requiring parental consent for users under eighteen years of age. Democrats in the Senate rejected the Governor’s proposal, citing constitutional viability concerns.

Education has been another major focus of the Youngkin administration so far. The Virginia General Assembly ended its session in late February of this year without having reached a deal on a new education budget.

Worries surrounding school funding arose from a calculation error in a school funding projection tool. The projection tool failed to account for reductions in the state grocery tax. To fix this error, legislators agreed on a smaller budget that specifically allocated funding for schools.

To boost party support in the ongoing culture wars, Mr. Youngkin passed a bill that allows parents to remove their children from courses containing sexually explicit content. This law contradicts a controversial McAuliffe era veto of the similar “Beloved Bill.” Mr. Youngkin had capitalized on McAuliffe’s veto during his campaign and accused the previous administration of ignoring parents.

Additionally, Youngkin rescinded a Northam-era statute that allowed the Commonwealth’s Governor’s schools to consider geography and socioeconomic status when making admissions decisions. This move, Youngkin claims, will ensure that the specialty schools maintain their merit-based admissions systems.

As November quickly approaches, expect the Youngkin administration to try bolstering Republican voter turnout for the statewide elections. If Republicans capture a trifecta, Youngkin will continue fulfilling his promise to bring more conservative policy to the Commonwealth. Future plans aside, Youngkin’s first fifteen months in office have benefited Virginians, bringing lower taxes, improvements to the public education system, and renewed investment in Virginia’s economy.

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