This past November, in a highly anticipated election, Republican Glenn Youngkin beat Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe to become the new governor of Virginia. Youngkin was sworn into office over the weekend, and he’s already having a major impact.
On his first day, Youngkin issued several executive orders, including an end to Critical Race Theory in public education, an order to combat human trafficking, and issued directives that cut regulations and rescind the vaccine mandate for all state employees. He also signed an order requesting an investigation into wrongdoing in Loudoun County related to the sexual assault of a young girl in the girl’s bathroom at school, as was reported by The Daily Wire.
Youngkin is also encouraging his team to crack down on crime. The new state Attorney General Jason Miyares fired 30 employees and started an investigation into the parole board.
In possibly his most controversial executive order, Youngkin also took action to empower parents and allow them to decide whether or not their child wears a mask at school.
Arlington Public Schools — a district in northern Virginia – put out a statement shortly after, saying it “will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety.”
Other counties and school officials have made similar statements about planning to continue requiring masks for now, but many of them are Democratic-leaning areas.
Youngkin was asked about Arlington’s move, and said, “[W]e wrote the order specifically to give all of the school systems basically eight days to get ready, to listen to parents. And the fact that that tweet came out from Arlington County within minutes of my executive order — what that tells me is they haven’t listened to parents yet. And if there’s one thing that hopefully everybody heard in November is it is time to listen to parents.”
Youngkin has made it clear that he is looking to support parents and give them the freedom to make choices for their children.
In an address to the General Assembly, Governor Youngkin said, “As we battle COVID, it’s parents that should decide the health measures taken for their children. That’s why I signed an executive order that allows parents to opt out of mask mandates in schools. This is a matter of individual liberty.”
The Virginia governor’s race was closely watched last year, largely because it was seen as a referendum on some of the culture war issues impacting the nation, especially those that affect schooling.
Youngkin won in a state that had become reliably Democrat in recent years, and he did so by essentially campaigning on some of the culture war issues that people are caring about more and more.
Of course, the election took place in November. Since then, it seems as if Americans have shifted even more toward Republican policies based on issues such as inflation, school closures, and immigration. The red wave that elected Youngkin to the office of governor last fall might be stronger at this point, but it’s impossible to know what might happen between now and the upcoming midterm elections in November.