Youngkin sparks renewed 2024 speculation with Reaganesque video
Mabinty Quarshie
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A campaign-style video that makes pointed references to former President Ronald Reagan, a still-popular GOP figure, is reigniting questions about Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s (R-VA) political future as more Republicans announce presidential campaigns.
Although Youngkin has said he won’t make any presidential moves this year, the video’s sleek production and inspirational tone suggest that Youngkin is not completely closing the door on higher office.
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“It’s pretty overwhelming to contemplate the future of America,” Youngkin said in the video, released Thursday morning. “It’s such an honor to be here with proud Americans who carry on President Reagan’s cherished legacy. He brought peace by projecting strength.
“At a time when it’s easy for us to lose faith, to worry that we are indeed that one generation when freedom becomes extinct, there are lights shining,” Youngkin continued. “We can usher in a new era of American values.”
Some Republicans have been pushing Youngkin to run for president since he defeated Democrat and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) in the race for the governor’s mansion in 2021, the first time a Republican had done so since 2009. Virginia law restricts governors from serving consecutive terms, which usually causes lawmakers to begin looking at higher office soon after winning an election. But Youngkin has either played coy or outright said he’s not running for president and is instead focusing on flipping Virginia’s Senate and holding onto control of the state House of Delegates.
His team reiterated those comments this week.
“Gov. Youngkin is 100 percent focused on Virginia, as he’s repeatedly made clear,” Dave Rexrode, a senior adviser to Youngkin, told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “This was a video highlighting his remarks at the Reagan Library last week, where the Governor spoke about how Virginia was one of the bright lights of our nation’s future.”
But veteran Virginia GOP consultant Brian Kirwin said that releasing the video is likely Youngkin’s way of increasing his name recognition with Republicans across the nation.
“He has to get himself in the conversation nationally,” Kirwin said. “And this ad may be the first of many that Republican primary voters are going to at least know who Glenn Youngkin is and what he can bring to the ticket.”
A Roanoke College poll released in March showed Youngkin had a 57% approval rating among Virginians, a five percentage point increase from November. Conservative groups, a crucial GOP contingent, in Virginia remain supportive of the governor, who rode a wave of parental anger against COVID-19 policies in schools into office. In March, Youngkin participated in a CNN town hall with host Jake Tapper, where he was questioned about public education policies, a sign of his rising star status.
“Gov. Youngkin has been diligently trumpeting the policies the people of Virginia elected him to implement like parental rights. Should he run for president, one can see by his strong approval, Virginians would likely strongly support him,” said Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation, a conservative Christian group in Virginia, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
As the GOP presidential primary race continues to see more Republicans join the fray, Kirwin said having Youngkin on the ticket, and bringing along Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, makes him an attractive vice presidential candidate. It could likely benefit Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), former President Donald Trump‘s closest GOP rival and expected soon-to-be presidential candidate.
Kirwin said a DeSantis-Youngkin ticket would be similar to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore’s campaigns in the 1990s. “Bill Clinton won two consecutive elections with the two young Southern governors’ message. And that’s what carried in ’92 and continued in ’96,” he said. “The message of DeSantis and Younkin [would be] two young Southern governors who: pushed back against COVID shutdowns and reopened their states, turned their economies around, and fought back against the shutdown and mask mandates, and they reopened their schools.”
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“And I’d think they’d make a decent team. They really wouldn’t be in conflict with each other,” Kirwin said, whereas Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence were two men with distinct personalities —Trump a combative flame-thrower and Pence a more measured Republican. Pence is currently ruminating on running for president as well, having previously said he will make a decision by late June. He remains in a strained relationship with Trump.
Political experts agree the 2024 GOP race is presently a two-man battle between Trump and DeSantis, who dominate polls and news coverage. But if either one falters, it could open a lane for a second-tier potential candidate like Youngkin to run. But Kirwin said Youngkin remains a long shot: “How does a first-term governor who’s not even halfway through his term really be nationally competitive?”