Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin sidestepped when asked by The Epoch Times on Dec. 13 whether he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2024.
“I’m happy being governor, and I continue to plan on being governor,” he said while talking to reporters following an event announcing a new entertainment and sports district in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital, that would include the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is running for reelection next year.
Nonetheless, there are Republicans who previously told The Epoch Times that Mr. Youngkin would be a great Senate candidate as the GOP is in a prime position to take back the upper congressional chamber.
“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,” said GOP consultant Dan Judy, who has helped the successful campaigns of numerous GOP senators.
‘Strong Candidate’
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.”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.
Mr. Youngkin’s promises included 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.
“Should he not run for president, I expect the Senate GOP leadership to actively recruit him,” said Mr. Mackowiak.
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 Mr. 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.”
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.
Mr. Cao unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2022, losing to incumbent Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) by almost several percentage points.
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 got 5 percent of those who voted for President Biden. A diverse coalition was—and is—key to winning statewide in Virginia.
“Current U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao has a chance to make the race competitive,” said Mr. Mackowiak.
Mr. Kaine last won reelection in 2018 by 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 2 percentage points, 41 percent to 39 percent, respectively, with 10 percent undecided.
