Republican Glenn Youngkin seized victory over the Virginia’s Governor’s race on Tuesday night, promising to roll back Democrats’ themes like mandatory vaccination and critical race theory.
Youngkin, who would be the first GOP governor of the state since 2009, said in his victory speech that Virginians had arrived at a “defining moment.”
“Together, together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth,” Youngkin said. “And friends, we are going to start that transformation on day one. There is no time to waste. Our kids can’t wait. We work in real-people time, not government time. So on day one, we’re going to work. We’re going to restore excellence in our schools.”
Along with Youngkin, Republican Jason Miyares defeated Democrat Mark Herring in the race for attorney general. Winsome Sears, a conservative Republican, won the race for the lieutenant governor and is the first woman and woman of color elected to the office in the state’s 400-year legislative history.
Virginia is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World.
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The republican showdown is a staunch warning for the Democrats who are seeing national confidence in the Biden presidency waning because of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, a failing COVID-19 policy entailing ever-stricter restrictive measures, along with a faltering economy hampered by skyrocketing inflation.
While Youngkin’s Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe campaigned on national issues, abortion, and voting rights, Youngkin concentrated on local issues. He promised to end a sales tax on groceries and cut regulations to spur new business.
Moreover, while striking McAuliffe on education and the economy, he advocated traditional GOP principles like spending more on law enforcement and rejecting COVID-19 vaccine mandates for teachers and state workers.
Youngkin will probably be best known for his pledge to ban critical race theory in schools, stating that Virginia schools will not “teach our children to view everything through a lens of race.”
Younkin capitalized on a remark by McAuliffe, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” when discussing whether parents have a say on what books their children are being provided at school.
Youngkin, on the contrary, vowed to keep the parents’ concerns the prime focus when it comes to the education of Virginia’s children.
“We’re going to embrace our parents, not ignore them. We’re going to press forward with a curriculum that includes listening to parents, as well as a curriculum that allows our children to run as fast as they can, teaching them how to think, enabling their dreams to soar. Friends, we are going to reestablish excellence in our schools,” he said, CNN reported.
