Yates/Scott B. Yankin's performance in his first year as governor was often indistinguishable from his political ambitions.
Richmond. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) was in the middle of a speech marking his first year in office when he introduced two guests from black-majority Petersburg: Mayor Samuel Parham, a Democrat, and Chief Travis Christian Font.
"The mayor and the chief represent the spirit of Virginia," Youngkin said in his State of the Commonwealth address to members of the House and Senate this month. "They represent millions in Virginia who want their leaders to put politics aside and focus on getting results."
What he didn't say—but made clear in "The Spirit of Virginia"'s written transcript of the speech—was that the call to transcend politics was itself a deeply political statement. "The Spirit of Virginia" is the name of his political action committee, which he used to promote himself and his fellow Republicans in Virginia and across the country. Yongkin mentioned this phrase a total of 10 times in his speech.
The metaphor is apt given that Youngkin carried the 2021 election in blue Virginia and achieved national political prominence as a 2024 presidential candidate.
Glenn Youngkin and Larry Hogan have little but big ambitions
Barely arriving at the palace a little over a year ago, Youngkin, a relative newcomer to Virginia politics, touted the success of the veteran billionaire and promised a "movement" to "restore power to the people." "
In the twelve months since taking office, Yongkin has faced the reality of running a diverse country with a divided legislature. The results are mixed. His victories in the Legislature—including end-of-term defunding in public schools and $4 trillion in tax cuts—have been facilitated by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Other initiatives would have won Yankin points in the national conservative media—banning the teaching of "critical race theory" in schools, establishing a "hotline" for parents to report abusive school officials—but fueled tensions with no real results.
A year later still no numbers. Yongqin was born in Virginia, and approached foreigners for prominent positions in his company; debutantes in politics with a team of national policy advisors; an information eater who makes embarrassing mistakes in public records; A self-proclaimed 'unifier' who has repeatedly fueled political and racial divisions.
Most importantly, as governor, Youngkin continued the balancing act he began as a candidate: reaching out to Trump's Republican base and Virginia's traditional voters. According to recent national polls, his approval rating is 50% or slightly higher.
"At least for now he's been able to separate his relentless political rhetoric on Fox News from the public perception of many ordinary Virginians. Support did pick up a bit after the election," said Richmond political scientist Bob Holdsworth. leftist, you know, and as he travels the state he talks about giving parents rights and raising standards in schools to get taxpayer money back.
In a recent speech to reporters, editors and columnists on the Washington Post's editorial board, Youngkin said he has fulfilled nearly all of his campaign promises in his first year.
"Even in a state with a Democrat-controlled Senate and a Republican-controlled House … we got everything we wanted done," Youngkin said. "Our program that we fought for has been put into practice."
But "activation" sometimes means more overt gestures than actual policy changes, such as Yongkin's policy directing schools to classify transgender children by their "biological sex" when using the bathroom or participating in activities. Legal experts say the policy is unenforceable and appears to violate state and federal laws.
Experts say limiting Yongkin's rights to transgender students is illegal
Some Republicans have also argued that Youngkin would have been wiser to spend more time in Virginia and less time around the country on his political message. Last year, Youngkin campaigned for Republican governors in 15 states. Only five of his riders have won, and they have been in solid red form.
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Youngkin's magic had no effect on the Virginia candidates either. Last year, only one of the three contested congressional races went to the Republican candidate. That year, Democrats won a special Senate election in Virginia Beach, which Youngkin won by five points.
© Alex Wong / Getty Images Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin drops his hat during a campaign rally for state Sen. Gene A in Smithfield on Oct. 27.
Wherever Youngkin appeared in Virginia's Troubles, he left his mark. Last year, he personally pressured the leaders of public colleges and universities to implement the tuition increase, and it worked. In one of his most interesting initiatives, Youngkin led efforts to mobilize public resources to address Petersburg's financial, public health, and safety problems in south Richmond.
Wonderful. I hope Youngkin will respond to your request to reduce tuition fees to a fixed rate
It's still too early to judge whether the partnership will bear fruit for St. Petersburg, but city officials see it as nothing more than a victory for attention.
However, as Yongkin enters his second year in office, he must have a track record of increasing political prominence. Advisors say his freshman year prepared him for the challenge.
"It's very simple," said Richard Cullen, Yongkin's general counsel and one of his few Richmond insiders. "He focused on the issues that led to the election… [and] he remains committed to them."
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© Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images Youngkin, Lt. Cdr. government Winsome Earl-Sears, Attorney General Jason S. Miyares and their spouses pray at the Capitol building in Richmond on Jan. 15, 2022, as officers are sworn in.
By all accounts, Youngkin is a dedicated worker who starts early—employees report receiving messages as early as 5:30 a.m.—and takes a hands-on approach to data collection, especially related to the state budget. The former co-CEO of private equity giant Carlyle Group carried government budget documents with him as he personally crunched and crunched various numbers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Yongkin is also open about his Christian faith and begins many business meetings with prayer.
His administration had less access to the Capitol media than his predecessors; Youngkin rarely interviews local reporters, but speaks extensively on conservative podcasts or with Tucker Carlson on Fox News.
In a 50-minute interview with The Washington Post before this year's General Assembly session, Yongkin expressed anger at suggestions that his political trips over the past year had weakened his ability to govern.
"There may be a standard for the number of hours people have worked," he said, referring to past governors, "but I take a full week." And I'm not sure people really know how much coverage we cover every week."
He spoke about the most important things in his first year in office, starting to bring the country out of the pandemic lockdown. "Virginia has been locked down and has been very behind schedule in reopening," Youngkin said. Since then, the state has created 85,000 jobs and attracted "a lot of big companies," including the massive Lego factory in Chesterfield and the headquarters of Boeing and Raytheon in Northern Virginia.
Yongkin also took office with the rare benefit of a large budget surplus. Like many other states, Virginia emerged from the early years of the pandemic with a faster-than-expected economic recovery and little federal aid. The combination allowed Yongkin to push for lower taxes and higher spending, including raises for law enforcement and teachers.
The $4 trillion relief package included a one-time deduction for taxpayers, a significant increase in the standard withholding tax for income taxpayers and elimination of the state stock tax. Although much of this was part of the state budget proposed by former Gov. Ralph Northam (D) before he left office, Youngkin drew attention to the issue during his campaign.
Northam tried to "steal some of his success" by including the cuts in his budget, Holsworth said, but Youngkin "must be given credit for raising the tax issue."
Asked about instances in which his leadership has called on Democrats to act, Youngkin first mentioned removing masks from schools, which he did in his first weeks in office after some Democratic senators sided with Republicans on the bill.
Yongkin called it not only a political issue, but also a clash of worldviews. "I don't think [Democrats] should allow parents to choose whether their children wear masks. Basically," he said, then expanded the comparison to other issues. "I don't think they thought we should have a $4 billion tax package. I don't think they believed in the success of lab schools just because they told me that. I don't think they thought we ran the country better. I think they fundamentally disagree that there's a competitive economy every day with the idea, and if we don't compete to keep people in Virginia, they'll go somewhere else."
Lab schools remain a priority for the unproven Youngkin. Last year, it received $100 million in congressional approval to explore the idea of a partnership between public schools and universities to help run K-12 schools, but there is no money for this family's second year and no training. those schools still. .
Youngkin is tasked with improving the performance of several government sectors, most notably the Virginia Employment Commission, which has been overwhelmed with jobless claims after pandemic layoffs and a backlog. Most of that backlog was cleared last year.
Yangkin's administration is also hailing a reduction in wait times at the state Department of Motor Vehicles, although he has yet to find a way to head the department after making his first decision to clear allegations of previous misconduct.
There were also problems with the authorities. Thousands of voter registrations filed by the DMV last fall were lost in the district election system, leaving local registrars across the state with thousands of documents that expired before the election. Yongkin, who has vowed to improve "election integrity" if elected, blamed the outdated computer system.
Perhaps no subject identified Yongqin's administration more than schools. He championed the campaign theme of parent empowerment while in office and stuck to that slogan, but his impact was tone rather than policy change. His first order to ban critical race theory did not change the program, it never included a CRT test. Last year, the hotline was closed after receiving hundreds of thousands of comments, but there was no clear response from management.
© Craig Hudson for The Washington Post Youngkin joins Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Taylor and other officials to welcome students to Colonial Forge High School in Stafford in September.
Youngkin paints a bleak picture of Virginia schools, arguing that student achievement has plummeted because of a misguided pursuit of justice. He was particularly critical of the 2017 revision of K-12 accreditation standards, which allowed students' performance to be considered for accreditation in addition to their test scores.
Although Virginia's schools are among the best in the country, a report released in May by the group Youngkin Education said they lag behind their peers in other states.
However, the Washington Post's analysis of the report indicated that the use of data was misleading, indicating that Virginia students performed as well or better than students nationally in recent years.
Last year, Youngkin saw Democrats willing to rally to increase school funding, even as efforts to create federally funded charter schools fizzled. And when the government agreed to a mandatory seven-year review of the state's teaching standards for teaching history and social studies, its proposals were criticized for errors and omissions — such as naming Native Americans as the first immigrants and not mentioning the Rev. Martin Luther. King Jr. fifth grade
Yongkin expressed regret for the original project and promised his recruits to get back to work and "make things right".
Many Republicans have praised Yongkin for his focus on improving government efficiency. Senator David R. .
"A lot of candidates say they're against the abuse of executive power, and then they go to the governor's office and quickly sign an extension of their powers with a pen," Sutterlin said. "Governor Yongkin is a rare leader who has used a pen to sign legislation that restores checks and balances."
But Democrats are in no rush to work with Yongkin. With the exception of last year's mask mandate agreement, Democrats have rarely shown any inclination to give him the presumption of innocence — a stark contrast to 2018, when Northam, a longtime lawmaker who had many friends on both sides of the aisle, brokered a compromise on Medicaid expansion at the expense of Republicans. He controlled the Presidential Palace and the Senate.
Black Rally Party, вастности, опасалис нгкина. "There are many people in the future, as if you were the leader of the next political field." Он Процитировал янгина дигиктивы об уаалении слова "Справедливость" из икольной Политики и и н носуда unten
"Now we have nobody, what can we say about you?" – thanks Begbi. – No children's lives.
that word? Ngkin stream for "spiritualization"
. Once in this city, as a senior citizen, the president of the Soviet Union is proud of his new card, which is surprisingly clear, as it is the rule of law. Are they sitting with employees who are interested in participating in our projects? о k ggr tetra our
This creates difficulties for Yongkin to complete the work on the session of the legislative body, which begins at 11. The Democrats, who increased their leadership in the state Senate after the extraordinary elections this month, made it clear that they would not support any bans, and even the Republicans seem to be suspicious of raising this issue, seeing that last fall it contributed to the victory of the Democrats.
One of them is at the intersection, that is, on the other side, the first time and the next.
"I think, что будущество Республиканской партнить ясно. ы доступно доставить", – сказал Янгк I like doing your business. You don't have to worry about it, you just have to take care of it. ни выбирату тебя, гоби вести веред.