OPINION:
One of the worst aspects of Old Dominion politics is that the best governors are kicked out after four years. Come November, Virginia’s voters must replace Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who has underpromised and overdelivered in a state that has increasingly fallen under the spell of liberalism.
The latest Morning Consult survey places Mr. Youngkin’s net approval rating at 21 points, exceeding the performance of many higher-profile state executives.
That’s impressive, considering the Democratic-controlled General Assembly constrains his ability to implement a positive agenda. Mr. Youngkin has had to embrace the veto pen like none of his predecessors has done. On Wednesday, the state Senate sustained the governor’s decision to veto the noxious speed camera expansion bill that Democrats rammed through the process with the assistance of a few big-government Republicans.
The key to managing a purple state is recognizing when politicians are hopelessly out of touch with the public. Referendum results around the country show most sensible people hate speed cameras, regardless of political affiliation. In January, 80% of voters in Kent, Connecticut, rejected a ballot initiative by the town’s selectmen to raise revenue with “traffic enforcement safety devices.” The same voters gave 66% of their support to Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Among the 157 other spurned proposals were minimum wage hikes and more than two dozen gun control bills, including the left’s favorite ban on scary-looking rifles. “Virginia has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Unfortunately, the commonwealth under previous administrations has reduced penalties for criminals, contributing to violent crime. I have yet to receive any bills enhancing penalties for crimes committed with firearms that would reverse this trend,” he explained.
During Wednesday’s session, General Assembly Democrats tried and failed to muster a two-thirds majority to override vetoes on 13 bills, earning Mr. Youngkin the record of having successfully discarded more legislation than any other governor in recent memory.
Without enough Republicans to back him up in Richmond, Mr. Youngkin has resorted to executive orders to implement policy at the state level. In 2022, his first order directed educational agencies to stop promoting “inherently divisive concepts” such as critical race theory and instead raise performance standards in math and reading.
His second order reversed the COVID-era authority for state bureaucrats to force children to wear pointless masks. He banned cellphones in the classroom as a distraction. School choice was a major element of his campaign, and he proposed a $50 million scholarship program allowing less well-off families to have access to the best education. Democrats nixed the idea.
Mr. Youngkin even flipped the script on diversity, equity and inclusion by rewriting all the job descriptions for positions within his government. For instance, “The Chief Diversity, Opportunity & Inclusion Officer will also promote free speech and civil discourse in civic life, including viewpoint diversity in higher education in coordination with the Secretary of Education.”
That’s DEI worth keeping.
When 2026 comes around, Mr. Youngkin faces an uphill fight if he decides to challenge Sen. Mark R. Warner. A Virginia Commonwealth University poll in January gave the Democrat a 7-percentage-point edge in a head-to-head match. Even so, Mr. Youngkin is a fierce campaigner. In 2021, he lagged in the polls until a few weeks before he won the keys to the executive mansion.
Now that the public has seen what Mr. Youngkin can do, they might want to have him continue to deliver for Virginia on the other side of the Potomac.
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