Looks like Trump isn’t stopping everyone.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin looks like he’ll jump in the 2024 GOP primary presidential race.
Youngkin would take the moderate conservative lane, as evidenced when he accepted Trump’s endorsement in his run for governor, but kept him at an arm’s length.
He’s sitting at a 58% approval rating in Virginia, where he can boast some of the strongest approval numbers nationwide.
He has battled the Walt Disney Company over their opposition to Youngkin’s bill which bans discussion of sexual orientation or overtly sexual topics in schools. Essentially, it’s the same bill that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pioneered.
And that’s the problem for Youngkin’s impetus for running. Everything voters want who don’t want Trump lies in Ron DeSantis. Even the hallmark policy proposals are the same. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is also about thinking of jumping in. He said that he’ll more aggressively and directly attack Trump. Youngkin won’t be doing that. He’ll have the same, over calculated, weasel responses as DeSantis has had when it comes to Trump. There’s not an ounce of daylight between the two political figures on that issue.
The one thing that sets them apart is temperament. Some feel DeSantis wasn’t supportive enough of the president with his “pornstar hush money” dig. Youngkin probably won’t even go there. But if he doesn’t, then why not just vote for Trump?
Youngkin even complimented DeSantis saying he’s “doing a great job” as Florida governor.
But with Youngkin’s high popularity in Virginia, it could make the state a golden goose. Virginia has 13 electoral vote, two more than Arizona, for example, so if the GOP took back the state, it could help them win and provide an offset for losing another one. He’d also be seen as more palpable than a more personally or politically extreme candidate.
But still, the milquetoast Romney type candidate may be yesterday’s weather
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