Governor says he is too focused on regaining GOP control of Assembly to think about presidential run

PETERSBURG – Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he is humbled that his name is being circulated for the 2024 Republican presidential candidacy, but he added he remained steadfast to regaining GOP legislative control in Virginia and reiterated he was not entering the race.

“Yes, it’s humbling. I’m new at this,” Youngkin said in an interview with The Progress-Index Monday afternoon during a stop in Petersburg. “But it’s also encouraging, and why is it so encouraging? Because people are paying attention to what we’re doing here in Virginia and we’re making a difference.”

When asked directly if that attention means he has not closed the door on a potential candidacy, Youngkin said, “I’ve been really clear that the most important thing is our elections in Virginia this year.”

Youngkin, a former business executive whose only political experience has been the Virginia governorship, has gained nationwide attention among many GOP faithful who see him as an alternative to the bombastic, scorched-Earth approach of the frontrunner for the nomination, former President Donald Trump. In contrast to Trump, Youngkin is considered folksier and more approachable who uses words like “respect” and seems more apt to work with political opponents instead of excoriating them.

Youngkin also is a defender of Republican conservatism who has clashed with Virginia Democrats over such issues as education and abortion. As governor, he has pushed efforts to rewrite state school standards to get parents more involved in what and how their kids learn, and he also supports a ban on abortion after the 15^th week of pregnancy.

His election in 2021 over popular former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe sparked a GOP sweep of the top three statewide offices and a re-take of the Virginia House of Delegates. With Democrats clinging to a slim majority in the state Senate and all 140 seats in the Virginia General Assembly up for grabs, the governor is hoping to use his political capital to keep the House and flip the Senate.

Despite his comments to the contrary, Youngkin often sounds like a presidential candidate-in-training. He talks about bringing a “common-sense approach” to governing in Virginia using principles that could also be applied to a party platform for national governance. He is a favorite of Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch and has appeared on Fox programming several times, most recently talking about his administration’s “Partnership for Petersburg” initiative to rebuild the city from the inside out economically, judiciously and socially.

A poll released earlier this month by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond showed Youngkin preferred by commonwealth voters over President Joe Biden 44% to 37%. Last weekend, pundits on the Fox News program “Wall Street Journal Business Report” said Youngkin just might be the panacea major Republican donors are looking for because he does not carry the political baggage of Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another presidential hopeful.

Addressing the comments on the news program, Youngkin pivoted back to the work his administration is doing here.

“Thank you for the trust and for the compliment in what we’re doing in Virginia,” he said. “That’s why I’m so focused on our November elections in order to demonstrate that there’s a way to do this, there’s a way to do this with results that are driven by common-sense governance, a way to do this by nominating candidates like we did during our [June 20] primaries who I think could get the job done.”

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Va. governor says he is humbled by presidential overtures, still not running