Virginia Gov. Youngkin tells small-business group he's 'having a ball,' urges critics to cooperate – The Washington Post
RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday that he’s “having a ball” during his first days in office and expressed surprise at public reaction against some of his initial actions, which include letting parents opt their children out of school mask mandates and banning the teaching of critical race theory.
“I am surprised that so many are surprised,” Youngkin (R) said to an enthusiastically supportive audience at a Richmond meeting of Virginia members of the National Federation of Independent Business. “I am delivering on what we promised.”
The speech — and the “surprised” line — was among the first statements Youngkin has made about the tumultuous start to his term since being sworn in on Jan. 15. He has kept a steady schedule of private meetings with legislators and constituents and offered interviews primarily to conservative radio and podcast hosts.
Youngkin also published an op-ed essay Wednesday in The Washington Post in which he defended his actions on masks as getting government out of the business of telling parents how to raise their children.
The executive order Youngkin signed the day he took office has drawn polarizing reactions across the state. Some of Virginia’s largest school districts — including in Fairfax and Prince William counties and the city of Richmond — have challenged his action in court, saying a state law passed last year requires them to follow federal coronavirus guidelines to the maximum extent “practicable.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children over age 2 continue to wear masks in school settings.
Last year, Youngkin suggested he would leave mask mandate decisions up to localities, telling Richmond’s WRIC-TV that “localities are going to have to make decisions the way the law works.” In brief comments to reporters after his speech Wednesday, though, Youngkin said it was incorrect to characterize his recent action as going beyond those earlier statements.
“I disagree with your premise,” Youngkin said. “What I said all along is that I’m going to stand up for parents’ rights when it comes to their children. I do believe that this should be a local decision, and I think parents should have the right to opt out.”
He added that “if localities want to have mask mandates, they absolutely are able to do that. However, parents have a right to opt out — they know what’s best for their kids. I think this is 100 percent consistent with what I have said all along.”
Another Youngkin action aimed at parents — establishing a state tip line for reporting schools or teachers for objectionable behavior, such as teaching “divisive” subjects — drove an emotional debate Wednesday in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Del. Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax) called upon Republicans to “stand up” to Youngkin over the tip line.
“It’s scary,” he said. “It reminds many of us who have studied history of some really unpleasant periods … where you have governments encouraging their citizens to rat each other out.”
Republicans pushed back, noting that the state has other anonymous tip lines, such as one for businesses to report regulatory violations. “Children do not belong to the state. They do not belong to the community,” said Del. Kathy J. Byron (R-Bedford). “Parents are in charge of their children.”
Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) took the debate further, accusing Youngkin of intentionally sowing division — particularly with his ban of critical race theory, an academic framework for thinking about the history of systemic racism that is not on the curriculum for Virginia public schools.
“Once again using the old Southern strategy to use race as a wedge issue, to use Black bodies as a prop in your campaigns,” Scott said. “I would ask you to be very careful about continuing to use this kind of language in an attempt to rally your base.”
Scott, growing angry, said the use of race caused him to question Youngkin’s religious faith: “So far what I’ve seen from his Day 1 activities is not someone who is a man of faith, not a Christian, but someone who wants to divide the commonwealth.”
The comments drew outcries from Republicans — Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) gaveled for order — and Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) angrily scolded Scott. “I’m not about to sit here and listen to that,” Freitas said.
Later in the day, Youngkin — who is openly religious and once started a church in his basement — made an extraordinary visit to the General Assembly office building to meet with Scott. They conferred for 30 to 40 minutes, Scott said.
“I thank the Governor for coming to visit with me,” Scott said via text message. “We had a private conversation about a host of issues and I’m prayerful that something meaningful will result.”
Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter declined to comment on the private meeting.
In his address to the NFIB, though, Youngkin seemed cheerfully removed from the fray that has accompanied his recent actions. He delivered a campaign-style speech that cast the state as being in economic straits that his policies could save.
“The sense of purpose is overwhelming,” Youngkin said. “The first lady and I are absolutely having a ball.”
“The first week was busy, and I hope everybody noticed that we were busy,” Youngkin continued, to laughter from the audience of small-business owners. He pointed out that he had selected the organization’s executive director, Nicole Riley, to serve as his deputy secretary of labor.
“We hit the ground running,” Youngkin said. “I know that some of our critics expressed shock that we in fact are delivering on some of our promises. But I want you to know we are just getting started.”
As he did during last year’s campaign, Youngkin lamented that more than 200,000 Virginians have dropped out of the workforce since the onset of the pandemic and related economic shutdown in 2020. Though the state’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2 percent in December — down from 5.6 percent the same month a year ago — workforce participation has continued to lag, as it has across the country.
“I want all Virginians to know the dignity of work, not the dependence of unemployment,” Youngkin said.
Repeating another campaign theme, Youngkin charged that Virginia has let other states do a better job competing for new businesses, and he vowed to cut regulations and invest in economic development.
And he invoked his theme of empowering parents, asking the small-business owners to “be a voice” with legislators over his call for creating more publicly funded charter schools.
Acknowledging the state’s booming finances — with surpluses expected for each of the next two years — Youngkin claimed the windfall is more attributable to high taxes than to economic growth.
But the situation, he said, creates a rare opportunity to invest in areas such as education and economic development while also cutting taxes.
“To do all of this we need Republicans and Democrats to put down the historic visceral reaction to one another, and we need to bring people together around these most important topics,” he said. “We’ve got to stop the politics of division and embrace a path forward that absolutely delivers on what we know needs to be done.”
Teo Armus and Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.
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