There are only two states with governor elections this November: New Jersey and Virginia. Surprising no one, it looks like New Jersey will re-elect their Democratic Governor. The Virginia race, however, is looking to be much closer.
The Virginia race is between the previous governor, Terry McAuliffe (D), and the Republican candidate, Glen Youngkin, who has never before run for public office. The last Republican governor in Virginia was Bob McDonnell who served from 2010 – 2014 (don’t get me started on the witch hunt that ended his political career!).
Anyway, for the first time in three elections, it looks like Republicans may have a chance to take the governor’s seat of Virginia. The Republican electorate is rallying around Youngkin, hoping to avoid another McAuliffe term.
Youngkin is playing his cards differently than many Republican candidates vying for an office. He isn’t tying himself closely to Donald Trump. He is pro-life but allows for some exceptions and wouldn’t support a bill modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Law. He is resistant to cries of vote fraud and recommends his supporters vote early if they can. Also, Youngkin recommends the Covid vaccine but is opposed to mandating it. These stances make Youngkin a more moderate Republican than most recent candidates and might make him attractive to the voters in the center.
Youngkin might be playing it smart. Virginia is a purple state and hasn’t had very many Republican governors – in the 30 terms since 1902, only six Republicans have been elected governor.
However, he also sounds like he could just be a RINO. His website lists some things he will do on “Day One” but nowhere on the website does it explain how he will accomplish these things. He says he supports law enforcement, will stimulate job growth, will remove Critical Race Theory from schools. He will lower taxes, increase school choice, and lower taxes.
Yet, besides an obligatory “protect our Constitutional Rights,” nowhere does he mention his stance on the Second Amendment, Pro-Life, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of movement. He doesn’t mention immigration or Covid regulations. But he does mention raising teacher’s pay, building/re-building schools, and completing previously planned environmental projects. But mostly, Youngkin’s “Day One Game Plan” is the only place his stance on issues is given and it is only a sketch of his platform. In fact, the website feels like it was written five years ago and the only thing they changed to make it applicable to this post-Covid world was a line about “keeping the schools open five days a week.” Otherwise, the troubles we have faced this past year and a half are missing. It wasn’t inspiring.
However, I am NOT encouraging Virginia voters to abstain from voting.
I was raised to believe that Hillary Clinton is practically Satan’s personal assistant and I will tell you now that Terry McAuliffe would then be his cupbearer. The man should not be governor of Virginia again and I would vote for nearly anyone else to keep him out of the office.
But this does raise the age-old question: What should we do about RINOs?