At Campaign Event, Glenn Youngkin Blasts Loudoun County Cover-Up, McAuliffe
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Burke, Va. — In front of a raucous crowd in Fairfax County on Tuesday evening, Glenn Youngkin called for an immediate investigation into an incident of sexual assault and alleged cover-up in Loudoun County while presenting his own four-point plan for student safety.
Laying the blame for the tragic events first reported on by the Daily Wire last week squarely at the feet of his opponent, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, and other members of his party, the Republican nominee to be the next governor of Virginia described himself as “heartbroken” but also “ignited” to action.
Youngkin, who called for an immediate investigation into the Loudoun County school board, was incredulous that the Department of Justice was investigating parents, and not “those who covered up a heinous crime in our schools.”
“The time for closed door conversation and silencing parents is over,” he declared, adding that “those that are responsible must be fired or resign immediately.”
Youngkin’s speech was notable not only for his tough talk, but for his four-point plan for student safety: Threatening to withhold funds from schools without school resource officers, requiring that annual school-safety audits be conducted with the help of local law enforcement, ensuring that a proper investigation be conducted by the state’s department of justice, and repealing House Bill 257, legislation allowing schools to refrain from reporting sexual battery to law-enforcement authorities. The bill was championed by Democrats in Virginia’s General Assembly last year.
“It’s time to answer failure with action, our kids can’t wait,” said Youngkin.
Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares —Republican candidates to be Virginia’s next lieutenant governor and attorney general, respectively — were also in attendance, standing alongside a collection of parents and students chosen to serve as Youngkin’s background for the evening.
The Republican candidate, who narrowly trails McAuliffe in most polls, also blasted his opponent for his stance on other educational issues, asserting that McAuliffe “spoke from his heart” when he stated during a debate between the two that he doesn’t “think parents should be telling schools what to teach.”
If elected, Youngkin also promised to raise teacher pay, ban the teaching of critical race theory, and open up 20 new charter schools in Virginia.
Education has been a major issue in the contest between Youngkin and McAuliffe, with 62 percent of voters saying it will be a “major factor” in their voting decision.
“Against us are powerful forces, forces that thrive if we concede . . . they will throw everything they can at us,” warned Youngkin, who ended with the defiant, but hopeful declaration that “this is no longer a campaign, it’s a movement.”
