Republicans Say Gov. Youngkin Would Be ‘Strong Candidate’ for Virginia Senate Seat

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in Smithfield, Va., on Oct. 27, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Republican Party is in a prime position next year to take back the Senate as there will be pickup opportunities in swing states, including Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, and in red states like Ohio, Montana, and West Virginia.

The GOP needs to flip only two seats in order to win back the Senate—one if the GOP wins back the White House as the vice president is the president of the Senate and casts the tie-breaking vote.

Add Virginia to the list of targets where the GOP could unseat the incumbent, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who has served since 2013. Glenn Youngkin could be a formidable candidate were he to pass on a presidential run as is currently the case, though he reportedly has been reconsidering.

Mr. Youngkin, a multimillionaire businessman, narrowly won the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race over former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe, becoming the first GOP governor of the commonwealth in under a decade and turning a state that went to President Joe Biden by double digits in 2020 into a purple state.

GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak said Mr. Youngkin would be a solid Senate candidate and should run because “that would be great for Virginia and for the country.”

He told The Epoch Times that Mr. Youngkin “would be a very strong candidate against Sen. Tim Kaine” as he “won a clear victory for governor over a former governor and has followed through on his campaign promises.”

Promises Kept

Those promises include banning critical race theory in Virginia public schools, making masks optional in schools, increasing teacher pay, eliminating the state’s grocery tax, enacting the largest education budget in state history, firing the parole board, and not accepting a salary.

While the GOP is in the majority in the Virginia House of Delegates, Mr. Youngkin has had to work with a Democrat-controlled state Senate. This has led to the governor not being able to fulfill some of his promises, such as instituting a gas tax holiday.

“Should he not run for President, I expect the Senate GOP leadership to actively recruit him,” said Mr. Mackowiak.

After all, Senate GOP leadership has been successful in recruiting candidates, including Gov. Jim Justice in West Virginia and entrepreneur and Navy SEAL veteran Tim Sheehy in Montana.

“The other statewide elected officials, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears and Attorney Gen. Jason Miyares, would both also be strong candidates, but they may wait to move up the statewide ladder,” said Mr. Mackowiak.

Indeed, were Mr. Youngkin to win in 2024, he would be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025, giving Ms. Sears, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2018, 10 months as governor to show she can serve a full four-year term ahead of a possible run to succeed Mr. Youngkin as Virginia law does not allow the governor to serve consecutive terms.

Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former senior communications director for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), told The Epoch Times that while Youngkin would only give up the governor’s mansion for the White House, “he would be a strong candidate for any office right now, because of his victory at a time when Republicans nationwide are having some troubles.”

The GOP barely won back the House in the 2022 midterms, where the party failed to take back the Senate as the Democrats flipped a seat as critics slammed the GOP for putting up low-quality candidates in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and New Hampshire. The GOP also failed to flip a gubernatorial seat, and critics said the party nominated lackluster candidates in states such as Wisconsin, Arizona, and Michigan.

Severe Financial Issues

Currently, numerous state GOP parties—Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado among them—have reportedly faced severe financial issues.

Regardless of whether Mr. Youngkin enters the Senate race, other candidates are already up and running.

Nonprofit founder and Navy veteran Hung Cao, author and constitutional litigator Jonathan Emord, financial adviser and former congressional aide Eddie Garcia, attorney Gwen Hickman, and Scott Parkinson, vice president of government affairs at the conservative Club for Growth and a former chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), have announced their candidacies.

“Current U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao has a chance to make the race competitive,” said Mr. Mackowiak.

Mr. Cao unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2022, losing to incumbent Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) by almost several percentage points.

Woody Johnston II told The Epoch Times that while “it’s too early to tell,” Mr. Youngkin “would certainly be a strong candidate” even though Mr. Parkinson and Mr. Cao are already “great candidates.”

“The Virginia Senate race is solidly in play for Republicans,” said Mr. Darling.

“Look no further than Governor Youngkin’s recent victory and the fact that Virginia is a purple swing state,” he said.

“Sen. Tim Kaine might be dragged down by the voters of Virginia’s anger, as expressed in the gubernatorial election with the lockdowns and woke teachings of Virginia public schools.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) speaks during a hearing in Washington on Sept. 24, 2020. Susan Walsh/Pool/Getty Images

As part of his broad coalition during the gubernatorial race, Mr. Youngkin fared well not only in the rural part of Old Dominion but also with suburban voters, winning 46 percent of that bloc, or a 9 percent increase from former President Donald Trump’s performance with that electorate in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. Mr. Youngkin drew 45 percent of college-educated voters and 59 percent of white voters, who consist of 72 percent of the commonwealth’s electorate. He even got 5 percent of those who voted for President Joe Biden. Having a diverse coalition was—and is—key to winning statewide in Virginia.

Mr. Youngkin was known for focusing mainly on state issues as opposed to talking about national matters—saying “Virginia” countless times during his campaign. He honed in on economic and cultural issues ranging from COVID mandates to inflation. Mr. Youngkin toed the line on COVID vaccines, encouraging people to get a vaccination but expressing opposition to mandates to get it.

Mr. Youngkin is popular, with an approval rating of 57 percent, according to a Morning Consult poll of Virginians.

At the end of the day, Mr. Youngkin would be the best candidate to face Mr. Kaine, said GOP consultant Dan Judy, who has helped the successful campaigns of numerous GOP senators.

‘Strongest Against Kaine’

“Gov. Youngkin would absolutely be the strongest candidate against Sen. Kaine—popular and successful governors make excellent Senate candidates, and Youngkin would be credible and well-funded, and would make that a competitive race,” he told The Epoch Times.

“At the moment, there aren’t any other challengers with Youngkin’s profile, and national GOP resources are likely to be focused on more vulnerable incumbents, putting the VA race in a second tier of potential GOP pickups,” said Mr. Judy.

“As we get into next summer, if the environment looks particularly favorable towards Republicans, the VA race might get more attention, but it’s likely to stay pretty quiet unless Governor Youngkin gets in, which seems pretty unlikely.”

Mr. Johnston concurred with Mr. Judy in terms of how much of a priority the Virginia Senate race is for the GOP. Mr. Johnston said that while Virginia is in play “it’s probably lower on the target list then say Montana.”

The Epoch Times has reached out for comment to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s Senate campaign arm.

A former senior Youngkin campaign official told The Epoch Times it is unlikely Mr. Youngkin will throw his hat into the ring.

A spokesperson for Mr. Youngkin did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Kaine last won reelection in 2018 by just under 6 percentage points. A recent statewide poll of a hypothetical matchup between Mr. Kaine and Mr. Youngkin showed the incumbent with a lead of just two percentage points, 41 percent to 39 percent, respectively, with 10 percent undecided.

As of Jan. 3, Mr. Kaine votes with Mr. Biden 97 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.