By Kerry Picket
November 3, 2021
-The Washington Times
Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin promised transformative changes on Day One to exuberant supporters late Tuesday night after becoming the first Republican in the commonwealth to win statewide office in more than a decade.
Mr. Youngkin, a former private equity CEO, took to the stage after his wife Suzanne and Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears, who won her own race Tuesday, delivered remarks to the crowd.
“Together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth. We are going to start that transformation on Day One,” Mr. Youngkin, who ran on kitchen table issues including education, lower taxes, and standing up for law enforcement, told his supporters.
“There is no time to waste. Our kids can’t wait. We work in real people time, not government time. So on Day One, we’re going to work. We’re going to restore excellence in our schools,” he said to the cheering crowd.
“We’re going to press forward with a curriculum that includes listening to parents, input a curriculum that allows our children to run as fast as they can, teaching them how to think, enabling their dreams to soar.”
Education became a top issue among Virginia voters who went to the polls Tuesday and cast their ballots for the entire GOP ticket.
Virginia suburban parents found themselves frustrated by their public school system for delaying in-person instruction of their children because of pandemic lockdown measures, as the quality of their education plummeted.
Additionally, many parents objected to course material related to race matters known as critical race theory that they discovered in their children’s remote learning.
Mr. Youngkin championed parents’ concerns in Virginia public schools throughout the campaign from school boards who ignore students’ criminal behavior to promoting school choice and charter schools.
Additionally, the new GOP governor-elect talked about his tax relief plan for the commonwealth.
“We will reduce our cost of living on Day One. We will declare the largest tax refund in the history of Virginia. We’re going to eliminate the grocery tax,” he said. “Suspend the most recent hike in the gas tax. Double everybody’s standard deduction. And we are going to cut taxes on the retirement income of our veterans.”
Mr. Youngkin, born in Richmond, Virginia, closed his remarks reminding his supporters that his campaign came from “nowhere.”
“Neighbors and friends of all races of all religions of all ages of all political ideologies. And it turned into a movement. This stopped being a campaign long ago,” he said. “This is the spirit of Virginia coming together, like never before. The spirit of Washington and Jefferson and Madison and Monroe and Patrick Henry.”
He added, “My fellow Virginians. This is our moment. It’s our moment for parents, for grandparents, for aunts, for uncles, for neighbors to change the future of Virginia’s children’s lives to change their Virginia journey. It’s our time to turn that vision into a reality.”
