Glenn Youngkin’s Wild Political Victory

(RightWing.org) – Glenn Youngkin was elected as Governor of Virginia two years ago after campaigning against dangerous wokeness. Since then, his popularity has grown, suggesting Virginians think he’s doing a good job. Now that popularity has translated into victory for a slate of GOP candidates he endorsed.

Youngkin’s clean sweep: All 10 GOP candidates he endorsed won their contested primaries in Virginia https://t.co/ZcO0sUxiXg

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 22, 2023

On June 20, Virginians went to the polls to vote in the State Senate primaries. Youngkin was backing six of the Republican candidates, and all of them won their races. One of them, Bill Woolf, achieved a massive 40-point victory; Emily Brewer, Tara Durant, Buddy Fowler, Lee Peters and John Stirrup also won. They join four more Youngkin-endorsed candidates who’ve already won their primaries this year — John McGuire and Bryce Reeves for the State Senate and Jason Ballard and Mike Dillender for the State House.

Many were looking at Tuesday’s primaries as a test of Youngkin’s popularity since he was elected on a platform of rolling back far-left ideology in Virginia’s schools. Liberal media also highlighted abortion as a key issue; Youngkin is strongly pro-life. Despite last year’s reversal of Roe v Wade, though, Youngkin’s popularity remains high. In fact, it’s reaching new heights; recent polling gives him a 57% approval rating, the highest since he took office.

Roanoke College political analyst Bryan Parsons says this is down to “Optimism about the way things are going in Virginia” and highlights some interesting trends in the state. He said polling shows that while Virginians prefer President Biden to former president Donald Trump, that changes if either Youngkin or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the GOP presidential candidate — either of them would beat Biden in the state.

Democrats believe Youngkin’s election was a blip and that Virginia remains a reliably blue state. The poll numbers show that this is something they’d be very unwise to rely on. And, as the backlash against woke ideology continues to grow, Youngkin — who achieved his political breakthrough pushing back against it — looks to be in a very strong position.