Tag Archives: Glenn Youngkin

The Wild Thing — Will Glenn Youngkin Run for President?

Posted on March 24, 2023 by | 28 comments

by Chris Saxman

The most often asked question I get these days is whether or not Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will run for president.

*Pro tip* — Until they’re out, they’re in.

If ever there was a next-generation Republican that checks enough boxes to get nominated and elected president, that Republican is Glenn Youngkin.

Do you know that reaction among women (especially girls) when a very attractive woman walks in a room? Sometimes it’s audible…

They can have NO idea who that woman actually is, but they instantly form this well-constructed opinion:

“Bitch.”

And after meeting the prejudged, some will admit — very rarely mind you — “Damn it. She’s actually really nice. Just don’t make me stand next to her in a picture!”

“Wait, are you calling the Governor of Virginia A BITCH?”

Of course not.

I will admit that it would have been a great clickbait headline and I did consider going viral; HOWEVER, the point is that Glenn is — now brace yourselves everyone — a good guy. Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections

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Petersburg Casino: Is Youngkin Channeling Wilder and Should Biden, Warner, or Trump Care?

Posted on February 14, 2023 by | 10 comments

Doug Wilder

by Paul Goldman

Race has too long defined Virginia politics. Several efforts to change this dynamic are discussed in my book Remaking Virginia Politics. My gut senses 2023 may feature another noteworthy moment on the road to Dr. King’s dream. The fight between Petersburg and Richmond over a casino license is currently not seen in this light. Neither by the General Assembly. Nor the Virginia media. Let me humbly discuss an alternative view. Based on my experience helping to move Virginia forward.

In Virginia’s political lexicon, Governor Glenn Youngkin is a conservative white Republican. While winning the governorship, he got barely 13% of the vote in Petersburg. His worst showing in any city. Hardly surprising given the city’s roughly 75% black electorate, 85% Democratic in partisan terms. The city has long been economically challenged, with a high poverty rate. Yet Governor Youngkin has made reviving Petersburg a top priority. Conventional political wisdom, to paraphrase singer Johnny Lee, says he is looking for love in all the wrong places. I disagree. Continue reading →

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Posted in Economic development

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Virginians Deserve Better

Posted on February 10, 2023 by | 46 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Word of warning to Virginia State Senate Democrats: paybacks are hell.

Your gleeful construction of a “brick wall of resistance” to the governor who was elected by the majority of Virginians may come back to crush you.

Maybe not this year. Or next. But eventually you’ll be back where you belong — in the minority — and the GOP will remember what you did in February 2023.

Have you heard?

Earlier this week the Dems flexed their muscles and rejected three of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees. They tried to block the appointment of Bert Ellis to the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors because he arrived on “Grounds” a couple of years ago with a tool that he intended to use to remove the “F*** UVA” sign some snotty, disrespectful undergrad had plastered to her door on the Lawn.

The president of the university should have ripped it down the day it appeared, but he’s far too woke.

Democrats were unsuccessful in trying to boot Ellis. He was approved on a tie vote.

So the UVa board now has at least one member willing to stand up for the values that once were the hallmark of the commonwealth’s flagship university.

One of the Democrats’ dubious successes this week was the sinking of Colin Greene, Youngkin’s pick for Health Commissioner.

“On a party-line vote, the Senate blocked the appointment of Health Commissioner Colin Greene, Virginia’s top public health official, over comments he made downplaying the significance of racism as a driver of health disparities,” reported the Virginia Mercury. Continue reading →

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Posted in Politics

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New VCCS Chancellor Focuses on Linking Industry and Education

Posted on January 6, 2023 by | 8 comments

by Shaun Kenney

One of Virginia’s hidden jewels is our community college system. For both bang for the buck and ease of access, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is perhaps one of our most underutilized resources, not simply because of the architecture or infrastructure, but because of the sheer quality of both the professors and — quite frankly — the students who move through the system.

Governor Glenn Youngkin came into office with specific intentions about how the VCCS should meet the 21st century, ideas which rubbed the existing VCCS board in the wrong way at first. Chalk it up to politics, image management, or that great enemy of all communication (miscommunication).

With the selection of David Doré as the new chancellor of VCCS, whatever sour first impressions there might have been have ended in compromise. In fact, it is hard to see where anyone could have gone wrong with the selection at all. Continue reading →

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Posted in Education (higher ed)

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Youngkin Delivers Early Christmas Gift

Posted on December 21, 2022 by | 19 comments

by Barbara Hollingsworth

(This column was first published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.)

Virginians received an early Christmas present this year. For four years, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy has been strongly urging state officials in Virginia to lighten what has become a steadily increasing tax burden on residents and businesses in the commonwealth by enacting tax cuts and tax reform.

On December 15, during his appearance before the joint Senate and House of Delegates Finance and Appropriations Committees, Governor Glenn Youngkin took bold steps to do just that. The governor announced his plan to “accelerate” the state government’s transformation based on what he said was “driving better outcomes for less money.”

In his budget amendments to the 2022-2024 biennial state budget delivered to the General Assembly’s “money committees,” Youngkin proposed cutting taxes on Virginians by a billion dollars – in addition to the $4 billion tax relief bill he signed earlier this year.

Youngkin told legislators that the state, which is running a large surplus, can afford the tax cuts despite his acknowledgement that a national recession is looming. “Our carefully planned budget balances spending priorities and tax cuts, with roughly $1 billion … conditioned on meeting our 2023 revenue forecast,” Youngkin told state lawmakers.

The governor wants to “finish the job of doubling the standard deduction” for state income tax filers, a long-time policy objective of the TJIPP. He also wants to reduce the individual income tax rate for the highest income bracket to 5.5% and eliminate state income taxes on military retirement pay. Youngkin said that these individual income tax reductions will save Virginians $700 million per year.

Under the governor’s plan, the corporate income tax rate for businesses would also be reduced from 6% to 5%, “the first step toward the ultimate goal of 4 percent at the end of our administration.” For small businesses, Youngkin is proposing a 10% Qualified Business Income Deduction. These measures, if approved by the General Assembly, would total $450 million in business tax relief annually. Continue reading →

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Posted in Taxes

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Youngkin’s Housing Start

Posted on December 9, 2022 by | 62 comments

by Adam A. Millsap

U.S. housing prices have risen 10 percent since last September and 41 percent since before the pandemic. Though prices have dipped slightly over the last three months, inflated costs remain a major problem. Policymakers around the country are trying to bring prices down, and a new proposal from Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin follows the right playbook but requires further elaboration.

America’s housing crisis is largely a supply problem. Data show that housing prices fell at an annualized rate of 1 percent in September, the third straight monthly decline. While this may seem like progress, the decline is largely driven by the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes. A higher benchmark interest rate leads to higher mortgage rates, which means monthly payments—another measure of affordability—remain elevated.

To make housing more affordable, policymakers must boost supply relative to demand, while holding everything else, including interest rates, constant. The press release announcing Youngkin’s Make Virginia Home plan acknowledges the supply problem, promising to “promote increasing the supply of attainable, affordable, and accessible housing across the Commonwealth.” That’s a worthy goal; achieving it is another matter.

Research shows that the primary culprits behind high state and local housing costs are restrictive zoning and land-use regulations that artificially limit the housing supply. Youngkin’s plan is short on details, but it explicitly mentions establishing guardrails for local zoning and land-use review processes. The state would impose deadlines to stop local governments from slow-rolling approvals; such delays impose big costs on developers and make otherwise attractive projects financially infeasible. Continue reading →

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Posted in Housing

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