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In the latest of the out-of-state jaunts that prompt speculation that Gov. Glenn Youngkin is running for president, the blunt question prompted an awkward, several seconds’ long silence from the governor and a nervous “just joking” from the questioner.
Trying to follow up Friday at the Texas Tribune’s TribFest session in Austin, Washington Examiner correspondent David Drucker asked Youngkin what he is thinking about 2024.
“We really haven’t contemplated, and the primary reason is that I’ve got a giant job that I’m doing,” Youngkin replied.
“When this topic comes up I am constantly reminded that I am new to this and that in fact we have a lot of work to do in Virginia,” he added. “It’s just very easy for me to really very candidly say we’re not thinking about 2024, we’re focused on 2022. We’ve got a huge job to do.”
Youngkin continues parent-power push in Kansas campaign stop
Sticking to a theme of national politics that marked most of an hourlong session that would eventually touch on Youngkin’s views on abortion, transgender youth and school history classes, Drucker pressed again: “So you’re saying there’s a chance?”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Youngkin brushed him off.
In the last two months Youngkin has campaigned for GOP candidates for governor in Nebraska, Michigan, Maine, Nevada and in Kansas on Thursday night. On Tuesday he heads to Georgia to stump with Gov. Brian Kemp, who faces Democrat Stacey Abrams in a rematch of their close 2018 contest.
When questions turned toward culture wars clashes that have sparked national attention and Virginia lawsuits and threats of lawsuits – guidelines for schools about transgender students and the books and history lessons Virginia students get – Youngkin said his aim is to empower parents.
Youngkin, in Loudoun, defends transgender policies, election watchdog
That basic aim, he added, was a big part of why he was elected last year.
“We constantly find ourselves in politics running at these ‘or’ moments: you either believe this or you believe that ... as opposed to recognizing that the root issue here is about parents,” Youngkin said.
“I don’t think it is about picking books for kids, I think it is about allowing parents to have transparency and decision rights about whether those books conform with their family values,” he said.
The Board of Education guidelines on transgender students also stress parents’ role, Youngkin said.
“In schools today, at least in Virginia, if your child needs an aspirin, parents have to give a written note but the school can engage in a discussion around a child’s most challenging decision,” he said.
Youngkin campaigns in Nevada to boost Lombardo's GOP bid for governor
“We must have parents at the front of the line - not at the exclusion of a trusted teacher or counselor - but parents must be the first stop for these decisions,” he said.
Opponents in Virginia say that by removing protections for transgender students, Youngkin's model policies could expose them to trauma, bullying and stigma.
Youngkin stressed that the model guidelines say 36 times that schools districts cannot tolerate bullying.
On Jan. 15, the day he was inaugurated, Youngkin signed an executive order calling for “ending the use of inherently divisive concepts” in Virginia’s K-12 public education. Critics say that push, and the governor's tip line that encourages parents to report the teaching of "divisive concepts," could lead to a sanitized version of history.
Youngkin tells Michigan Republicans his campaign blazed a path to follow
Asked by an audience member in Austin for an example of so-called “critical race theory” taught in Virginia schools or in textbooks, Youngkin said his administration’s examination of school curriculum found “the infusion of judgmental ideas, infusion of ideas that in fact were speaking about categorizing people as victims or oppressors, categorizing people as inherently racist because of their race or their religion or their sex.”
While he did not cite a specific text, he said this was evident in training material for teachers.
In response to Drucker’s questions about former President Donald Trump, Youngkin said he felt Trump was very successful with what he called “kitchen-table concerns,” in contrast with inflation that the governor blamed on the boosts in federal spending as Congress enacted its COVID-19 relief and infrastructure bills.
He said standing up for law enforcement and asserting the primary role of parents in education were things that Trump got right.
Taxpayers' bill for Youngkin's unofficial out-of-state travel is $18,377
Trump had issued an order for state and local police agencies to set policies on the use of force in order to continue to receive federal grants, but most of the agencies since certified had to change little or nothing in order to comply because the standards were so basic.
The Trump administration’s education efforts included support for school choice measures – that is, ways of making it easier and more affordable for parents to send children to facilities other than their neighborhood public school.
Those included a $5 billion federal tax credit for scholarships and allowing the use of 529 accounts for K-12 tuition payments. The administration also proposed cuts in the U.S. Department of Education budget and rescinded an Obama administration letter directing schools to treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for programs that receive federal financial assistance.
Youngkin plans to campaign next month for Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, an advocate of Trump’s election conspiracy claims who has called for decertifying her state’s 2020 election results.
“What I firmly believe is that all states deserve a Republican governor,” Youngkin said, when asked if supporting election deniers was a problem for him.
“I am comfortable supporting Republican candidates and we don’t agree on everything,” he said. “I have said that I firmly believe that Joe Biden was elected president. I have to say in all candor I wish he wasn’t because I don’t think he’s done a good job for America.”
On abortion, Youngkin said he hopes the General Assembly will enact a ban after 15 weeks, with exceptions for cases of rape, incest or when the health of a mother is at risk. (Democratic leaders, such as Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, head of the Education and Health Committee, say they will try to defeat any such measure.)
“I felt that a bill that would recognize that a baby, child can feel pain at about 15 weeks was a reasonable place to try to pull people together," Youngkin said.
"Virginians have elected a pro-life governor, they made a comment that they want fewer abortions as opposed to more that’s why I’m hopeful that on a bipartisan basis a bill can be brought to my desk.”
In October 1951, workers constructed a section of Forest Hill Avenue in South Richmond. The segment sits between Westover Hills Boulevard and Prince Arthur Road.
In December 1990, a Richmond Ballet dancer stretched before rehearsal of “The Nutcracker.”
In February 1953, Richmond Department of Utilities workers used a 65-foot hook-and-ladder firetruck to install new lights on Broad Street after attempts to secure other ladder equipment from private companies had failed.
In May 1954, Scoop sniffed around the pet food aisle at a grocery store in Richmond’s West End. The store offered a large selection of pet foods, a relatively new concept for the era. The accompanying article said: “Gone, apparently, are the days that Fido took the scraps from the table and liked them.”
In September 1942, members of Richmond Hotels Inc. donated typewriters to the War Production Board and the Office of War Information in response to an appeal for businesses to let the government have any machines they could spare.
In August 1981, children enjoyed outdoor recreation at Camp Happyland in the Richardsville area of Culpeper County, not far from Fredericksburg. The Salvation Army started the camp in the late 1950s to improve children’s health through exercise and proper nutrition.
In March 1971, a crowd estimated at several hundred waited outside City Council chambers at City Hall in downtown Richmond. Residents of the recently annexed Broad Rock area were protesting the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s proposal for low-rent public housing in the area.
In March 1969, a sign went up to mark the site of Henrico County’s first permanent designated library, on Laburnum Avenue near New Market Road. On hand were (from left) Varina District Supervisor Edwin Ragsdale, library board trustee Mrs. F.M. Vaughan, library assistant Virginia Liles and county libraries director David Rowland. The library opened in December 1970.
In June 1969, a Trappist monk at the Holy Cross Abbey near Berryville in Clarke County began his daily meditation. The monks spent their days balancing quiet prayer, spiritual reading and manual labor.
In June 1956, the Rev. Lawrence V. Bradley Jr. of Grove Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond and his secretary, Jean Bolton, got out the summertime heat beater: a simple cardboard fan. The pews were liberally stocked during the warm months because the church had no air conditioning.
In July 1959, the normally bustling downtown Richmond business district, including this stretch along Eighth and Main streets, was much quieter as motorists stayed home because of triple-digit heat.
In April 1966, Union Bag-Camp Paper Corp. officials oversaw manufacturing at a new plant in Chesterfield County. The facility produced millions of bags for supermarket chains and other clients on the East Coast. At the time, about 265 employees worked in two local company plants; the old factory at 13th and Canal streets in Richmond was open for limited operation until it was sold.
In March 1969, a sign went up to mark the site of Henrico County’s first permanent designated library, on Laburnum Avenue near New Market Road. The branch opened in December 1970. Posing with the sign were (from left) Varina District Supervisor Edwin Ragsdale, library board trustee Mrs. F.M. Vaughan, library assistant Virginia Liles and county libraries director David Rowland.
In August 1982, David Tidwell of Croaker posed with his girlfriend’s dog, Blazing Amber of Cinder, at the humorous “Norge Dog Station” at Norge Grocery on U.S. Route 60 west of Williamsburg. The sign had been put up seven years earlier, and the spot became a popular photo opportunity for visitors.
In March 1987, in preparation for new carpeting, the Dumbarton branch library in Henrico County had to remove about 80,000 books from shelves. About 50 people handled the first phase overnight — but restocking the shelves awaited.
This 1957 photo shows Collegiate School in the 1600 block of Monument Avenue in Richmond. The Town School elementary building was on the left and the high school on the right. In 1960, the Town School and the Country Day School merged, operating on the campus off River and Mooreland roads in Henrico County. It remains the location today.
In November 1970, a Richmond officer rode his horse by the police bureau’s new stables, which were under construction. The facility near Brook Road and Chamberlayne Avenue included eight stalls, a scrub area, a horseshoeing area and a tack room. The bureau had been looking for an established home for its horses since the mid-1960s, when the Virginia National Guard moved from the Richmond Howitzers downtown armory, where the horses had been stabled for two decades.
In March 1971, a crowd estimated at several hundred waited outside City Council chambers at City Hall in downtown Richmond. Residents of the recently annexed Broad Rock area were protesting the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s proposal for low-rent public housing in the area.
In November 1948, Army Lt. Charles D. Smith Jr. administered the oath to the first set of postwar draftees processed at the Richmond induction station at First and Broad streets. Several of the men were immediately sent to Camp Pickett in Blackstone.
In December 1938, Richmond Glass Shop had a new home at 814 W. Broad St., site of the old Ashland Railway Station. The shop, run by brothers Frank R. and A.G. Bialkowski, had glass of many types, and offered bath and kitchen installation, storefront construction and paint products.
In March 1979, corrections officer Howard Alexander held the homemade rope used by convicted murderer Michael Irwin Cross to escape from the State Penitentiary, then located along Spring Street in downtown Richmond. Cross was captured two months later after attempting to free a fellow convict who was being treated at Medical College of Virginia Hospital.
In June 1986, “Mr. Newspaper” greeted a young girl and her mother at a Richmond-area mall. The RTD mascot often traveled around town promoting the newspaper.
In July 1951, Alonzo Moore, 74, walked down a street in Cape Charles on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and blew his horn, alerting locals to his sale of the fresh catch of the day.
In July 1960, the Schellenberg family of Highland Springs prepared to have a bomb shelter installed in their yard, one of Virginia’s first privately owned radiation fallout shelters. The enclosure was designed to accommodate up to six people during a nuclear attack. The horizontal steel tank (rear) was 7 feet in diameter and 16 feet long. Once installed, the only elements aboveground would be a domed entrance and air filter and exhaust pipes.
In June 1979, Terry Woo set bricks for a walkway as construction of Kanawha Plaza in downtown Richmond continued. The $4 million dollar city-financed plaza linked the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond building and the Virginia Electric and Power Co. building.
In July 1951, two women enjoyed the white sand beach of Cape Charles on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
In June 1968, workers welded boilers at Old Dominion Iron and Steel Corp., located on Belle Isle under the Lee Bridge in Richmond. At the time, Old Dominion’s owner was interested in expanding operations, and the city was interested in using the island as part of a James River park. The company’s history on Belle Isle spanned from before the Civil War to the 1970s.
In November 1972, after the remnants of Hurricane Agnes had washed out a bridge, a barge carried vehicles and workers across the James River from Tredegar Street toward Belle Isle in Richmond. A day earlier, a welder for Old Dominion Iron and Steel Corp. drowned after a boat carrying him and others capsized on the same route.
This December 1973 photo shows the front counter in Roaring Twenties, a new restaurant and nightclub on state Route 10 in the Hopewell area. It was designed to resemble a 1920s speakeasy, with features including an antique cash register, a diving girl and even a dining table from Al Capone’s Florida home.
In October 1969, cadets at John Marshall High School in Richmond posed with their ribbon-bedecked sponsors after an awards ceremony. The school’s Corps of Cadets was established in 1915 — it was the first military training program in a public school in Virginia — and disbanded in 1971.
In May 1989, a transformer exploded under the sidewalk on the Fourth Street side of the Richmond Newspapers Inc. building downtown. The ensuing fireball charred two cars parked on the street and sent flames up the side of the building. No one was hurt in the nighttime explosion, and delivery of the next morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch (which was printed in the building) was only slightly delayed.
In August 1972, motorists approaching construction on Interstate 64 south of Bryan Park in Richmond were greeted by a robot signalman waving a bright red flag. “Silent Sam,” as the decoy was nicknamed, was used by the state Department of Highways to slow drivers as they neared workmen building an I-195 interchange and bridge near the Acca rail yards.
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