Meet The Candidate: Glenn Youngkin Seeks Nomination For Governor

VIRGINIA — Glenn Youngkin, a long-time business leader, is one of seven candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Virginia in 2021.

On Saturday, 53,000 delegates will cast ballots for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general at the Republican nominating convention. The contest is ranked choice, requiring candidates to get a majority of votes to win.

Youngkin will face entrepreneur Pete Snyder, state Sen. Amanda Chase, Del. Kirk Cox, former think thank leader Peter Doran, retired Army Col. Sergio de la Peña and former Roanoke Sheriff Octavia L. Johnson. Visit this site to find a polling location near you for Saturday's nomination convention.

Youngkin grew up in Richmond and Virginia Beach. After earning an engineering degree at Rice University and his MBA, he moved to Northern Virginia and began working at The Carlyle Group, where he spent the next 25 years.

Working his way to the top of the company, Youngkin played a key role in building Carlyle into one of the leading investment firms in the world.

Learn more about Glenn Youngkin and why he is running for governor of Virginia in 2021:

Age (as of Election Day)

54

Position Sought

Governor

Party Affiliation

Republican

Family

I have been married to my wonderful wife Suzanne for 26 years and have four wonderful children. Our family journey has been and continues to be guided by our faith.

Education

Rice University (1990)
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering – BS; Bachelors of Arts, Managerial Studies - BA

Harvard Business School (1994)
Master of Business Administration – MBA

Occupation

Investor and business leader

Previous or current elected or appointed office

I am a conservative outsider who has not previously held elected office.

Campaign website

www.youngkinforgovernor.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I’m not a politician. I’m a successful business leader and political outsider who will bring fresh ideas and a new perspective to the job of governor and will get things done.

I spent 30 years building business and creating jobs, and I have a proven record of delivering results. I helped grow the Carlyle Group from a small firm into one of the top investment companies in the world. As co-CEO, I led a team of nearly 2,000 people and helped manage assets totaling more than $230 billion dollars, nearly four times the size of Virginia’s yearly budget.

Now, I want to serve the people of Virginia and use my real-world experience and skills to make our Commonwealth the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

The single most pressing issue facing our state is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

We must ensure all schools, businesses and houses of worship are open. Governor Northam has unnecessarily kept Virginia's economy closed for too long, as governor I will ensure we are open for business. We must also stand strong for our Constitutional rights.

How would you assess Virginia’s handling of the coronavirus, and why?

Governor Ralph Northam’s coronavirus response and vaccine distribution has been a disaster. He unnecessarily extended the shuttering of our businesses, closed our schools, and our houses of worship. It took more than two months after the first coronavirus vaccines were publicly administered for Northam to launch a phone hotline to facilitate vaccinations. At one point, Virginia was dead last in the entire country when it came to distributing the vaccine.

Many Virginians lost their paychecks due to the pandemic, and many of them failed to receive the unemployment assistance they filed for on time. Virginia still ranks last in the nation for resolving unemployment claims.

What laws or policies will you pursue to help the state recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Instead of dragging my feet like the current Governor, I would have made distributing the vaccine and unemployment assistance top priorities. The website and the hotline would have been ready to go on day one.

The simple fact is that the governor and the career politicians in Richmond failed us, and Virginians paid the price. We need new leadership with real-world experience, someone who spent their career in business solving problems and getting things done. If you hire me as your Governor, I’ll fix these problems and get Virginia moving again.

How would you assess the General Assembly's work in the latest session, which saw passage of a host of bills on racial equity and criminal justice reform?

Our law enforcement community is under attack in Virginia. Officers and frontline workers are being targeted by people who want to defund and demoralize them — even reducing the criminal penalties for assaulting them. These attacks will stop on my watch. As governor, I will veto anti-police legislation and will fight to get them the funding, training and resources they need to do their jobs well and safely. We should have the nation’s best law enforcement. I will make sure the brave men and women who seek to protect and serve their communities know that we have their back, because they have ours. I will oppose all efforts to end qualified immunity. I will hold bad actors accountable, but I will never abandon the heroes who head to work every day knowing it could be their final shift. This is the toughest job in America right now, and we must come together behind our law enforcement community like never before.

What is your position on the effort to repeal the state's right-to-work statute, and what changes, if any, would you make in the law?

As governor, I will fight to uphold Virginia’s status as a right-to-work state.

There are universal issues right now that are not political, and keeping our status to Right to Work is absolutely one of them. The business community universally supports keeping the Right To Work, which is just a death knell for a business climate. And so there are absolutely big picture topics that are universally supported by Virginians, not just Republicans.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

As Governor, I will immediately open all schools, businesses and houses of worship that have been unnecessarily closed for too long by Governor Northam. We will get our economy moving again, crank-up the job machine, lower the cost of living by lowering taxes, and cut the expensive red tape that is hurting our small businesses. I will make sure Virginia leads the nation in law enforcement, with full-funding and no threat to qualified immunity. Schools’ curriculum will be revised to stop teaching what to think, and start teaching how to think, including accelerated math. I will fight back against big tech censorship, defend our Constitutional rights, and press forward with election reforms

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am a Christian, Conservative, political outsider, and successful business leader who has 30-years of experience delivering results.

I can WIN the nomination, unite the party, and win the election in November. I am the only candidate that will be able to beat the Democrats in November and turn the Commonwealth around.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

Under Governor Northam, Virginia has suffered. Our businesses have been unnecessarily closed and restricted by mounds of restrictions and regulations. Small business continues to suffer while larger businesses move away. Governor Northam kept our schools closed, enabled curriculums to be corrupted with political agendas and sat quietly as the Virginia Department of Education has proposed to eliminate accelerated math classes, remove the Pledge of Allegiance and Fourth of July from curriculum, and remove advanced diplomas. Virginia has been poorly run, including last in distributing unemployment claims, and at one point last in vaccine roll-out. Finally, the Virginia parole board scandal has gone unaddressed. Governor Northam has failed Virginia and I'm running for governor to fix the longstanding issues created by Democrat Governors McAuliffe and Northam.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

After a 30-year successful business career, I know how to deliver results, set goals and get teams moving to achieve those goals, hold people accountable, and to win. I also know how to hire the best talent, negotiate the best deals, and work as a team to get the best results for Virginians. I will stand strong on providing the best education for our kids, protecting our Constitutional rights, enacting job growth policies, and pressing forward with election reforms. I know how to deliver results and take on the job as governor.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

“Speak from the heart and tell the truth”

“Trust in the Lord”

“You should marry Suzanne”

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

One of the amazing things that I get to do each morning is start in prayer. And I start with the same prayer every morning, which is:

‘I lift my eyes up to the Hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.’

That’s where I start every day because it gives me great confidence, and it is also quite humbling.