Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, joining his Georgia counterpart and fellow Republican Brian Kemp at a campaign rally outside Atlanta on Sept. 26, reminded the crowd that the Georgia election revolves around the same issues that drove his own upset victory last year.
But the two states’ respective experiences going into last year were very different, the Virginia Republican told about 400 people gathered at Town Green Fountain, a park in the picturesque downtown of Alpharetta, a suburb north of Atlanta.
And the reason for that, Youngkin said, was the bold course Kemp took during the pandemic.
“Let me just take y'all for a little walk back in time,” Youngkin said. “You see, no more than two years ago in Virginia, we were locked tight. We had eight years of a Democrat governor—eight years. We were locked down, shut down in the middle of the pandemic, and you didn’t have that because you had Brian Kemp.”
“There were small businesses in Bristol, Virginia, that were closed. And we had businesses right across the street in Bristol, Tennessee, that were wide open. We saw small businesses shut day and night. You didn’t have that because you had Brian Kemp.”
“We saw crime going up in all our neighborhoods because we saw resources being taken away from law enforcement. You didn’t have that because you had Brian Kemp.”
“We saw children locked out of their schools that didn’t reopen until September 2021 full time. We were told the education our children were getting on a 12-inch screen was a quality education. You didn’t have that because you had Brian Kemp.”
“So Virginians stood up and said, ‘Enough.’ Teachers said, ‘Enough.’ Law enforcement said, ‘Enough.’ By the way, the Latino community, the Asian community, and the black community who had never voted for Republicans before said, ‘Enough.’ It was a wake-up call in Virginia.”
In the first statewide victory for Republicans in Virginia in 12 years, Youngkin defeated Terry McAuliffe, a former governor and confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton, by 2 percentage points. A significant issue became school policy toward parents: whether they should be advised of the use of sexually explicit materials in the classroom.
During a debate, Youngkin noted that McAuliffe had, during his tenure, vetoed a bill that would have provided for parental consent on the subject. McAuliffe responded, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Polls later confirmed that was a significant factor in Youngkin’s victory.
Pushback by Virginia parents and Youngkin’s victory crystallized the parental rights issue nationally. Kemp and other Republican candidates pound the point in their speeches, and there have been attempts across the country by conservative school board candidates to reestablish parental control over school educational policy in this and other controversial matters.
Youngkin got a laugh out of the crowd when he told of how Kemp’s Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, had come to Virginia to campaign for his opponent.
“And when she was speaking—to very small crowds—she, in fact, said that the biggest fear that Virginia had is that if they elected me we'd become more like Georgia. I said, ”Thank you, Stacey.”
“I’m proud to say that our economy is open, our economy has grown, our kids are back in school, we’re returning the taxpayers’ money to them. Virginians compete like crazy with Georgia in order to develop, and I’m proud to say that we’re a lot like Georgia.”
Kemp, giving his stump speech to a crowd in the tech-heavy suburb 15 miles north of the city, reminded them of what he had done during the pandemic. That included reopening businesses and schools quickly and supporting law enforcement when it was under attack from many quarters during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
And he reminded them of the criticism he'd faced from many sectors nationally, including Abrams, for doing so.
He reminded them of the billion-dollar rebate he‘d directed for taxpayers from a $5 billion state surplus. He said he’d do it again if reelected, plus enact a one-time property tax-relief grant of between 15 and 25 percent of what property owners owed to ease the burden of inflated property values.
He told them that, unlike Abrams and the Democrats, he would not use the surplus to “build big government programs. Because when that money runs out, you know how they’re going to pay for it in the future? Raise your taxes.”
Randy Gonano, a 59-year-old IT consultant who lives in Alpharetta, came to the event with his friend Chris Ziegler, 57, an attorney.
“I’m supporting Kemp and his messages. He supports the military, and I support the military. Plus, he’s done a pretty good job,” Gonano said. “He’s handled himself well. He knows how operations work. A transition right now would not be for the best.
“He’s got a pretty good track record, and there have been plenty of obstacles—Covid, immigration, economic issues. There was a surplus of $5 billion, and he gave some back to the people. That was a nice gesture. I haven’t seen that before.”
Ziegler said of the two governors, “I support both of them and wanted to see what they had to say.”
“I want to lend my support to the governor,” said Rob Lett, 53, of Marietta, a Kemp volunteer who is also a professional speaker. “There are some really important things we have to make decisions about. These are really critical times. People have to make a decision about what freedom really means.”
Johnna Maddox, a 59-year-old tech consultant from Alpharetta, said she was there because “I’m tired of inflation, tired of being told what to think, tired of my taxes going up.” In addition to a Kemp sticker, she was wearing a sticker for Rich McCormick, the Republican candidate for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District who spoke before the two governors did.
“He’s family-focused, and he fought to defend me,” Maddox said of McCormick, a Marine pilot who, after going to medical school, returned to Afghanistan as a military doctor. “He’s working in one of the toughest arenas, ERs, with hospital funding going down.”
McCormick, in his speech, summed up succinctly the issue that Youngkin led on and that Kemp, McCormick, and many other Republicans concur with.
“I’m not interested,” McCormick said, “in co-parenting with the government.”
