Youngkin darling of donor class

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) has emerged as a favorite, if not the favorite, substitute for Donald Trump in the Election of 2024, in the apparent opinion of the Republican donor class. The eponymous “Conservative Research Group” dropped that opinion yesterday, by examining the apparent work product of said “wealthy donors,” taking statements from those claiming to be close to Youngkin, and comparing some of his recent quotes to those of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) shortly before he announced his campaign for President.

Glenn Youngkin as a sleeper candidate

“Conservative Research Group” says flatly that Republican donors want Glenn Youngkin to challenge Donald Trump in the primaries. Thus far he has not only not done so, but has not appeared at any Republican primary events. In fact he recently said,

I am not at the Iowa State Fair. I am in Virginia, not across the country, to campaign for Virginians.

Virginia, an off-year State, has elections for its Senate and House of Delegates this fall (November 7).

Yet the anonymous commentator compared that statement to “similar remarks” from Gov. DeSantis, months before he announced for the Presidency. He also quoted a former co-worker at The Carlyle Group as saying,

The presidential pot is simmering and he’s happy to stir it.

The commentator also embedded this ad by Spirit of Virginia, the Youngkin fund-raising arm. It runs on Glenn Youngkin’s personal YouTube channel.

“It’s time to usher in a new era of American values,” reads the title of this spot. Indeed the governor used clips of himself addressing an audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

At least one fellow YouTube user called the governor “the Reagan of our generation.” (We do not know whether that user offered that remark spontaneously or as a paid shill for the donors.) But other users urged the governor to run, not for the Presidency, but for the Senate.

Electoral history

Glenn Youngkin announced for the governor’s race in early spring of 2021. He was one of seven candidates who took part in an “unattended convention” that used ranked-choice voting to decide the nomination. The contest required six rounds to decide the contest between Youngkin and the closest finisher, Pete Snyder. Sen. Amanda F. Chase (R-Chesterfield), third in line, held on for five rounds before her elimination. The former business executive won his general election handily, after his opponent, Terence McAuliffe, threw away his chances by saying that parents have no role to play in their children’s schooling.

At the end of his article, the commentator speaks of Youngkin “sav[ing] the Republican Party from itself.” What he means by that, is far from clear, but that phrase has become typical donor-class boilerplate. The donor class is known to have been seeking alternatives to Trump, who has made himself their implacable enemy.

The Virginia governor has one advantage over his Florida counterpart. In rolling back and otherwise fighting against COVID mandates and “woke” American history courses, he is not open to any charges of hypocrisy. That’s because, unlike DeSantis, he is only in his first term as Governor and had no role in the imposition of COVID mandates. So when he moves to eliminate them now, no one can point to his having imposed them to begin with.

Trump has not ignored the governor entirely. Last November he unleashed a blistering attack against him.

About the image

“Glenn Youngkin Headshot (cropped 2)” by Kate Magee Joyce for Glenn Youngkin from Virginia, United States is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 .