It’s the first time in 20 years that a Republican has won Virginia in an election for the White House.
We have to go all the way back to then-President George W. Bush, who won reelection in 2004.
Democrats have carried the state in four consecutive presidential elections, including four years ago when Biden beat President Donald Trump by 10 points to win the White House.
But Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin believes there is a very good chance the former president will end the Republican losing streak in Virginia as Trump faces Biden again in the 2024 election this fall.
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks at the podium while, from left, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum attend a news conference at an oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, on Monday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“Let’s start by remembering back in 2020 when Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points. The fact that we’re even having this debate is a huge turning point,” Youngkin said in an interview with Fox News Digital while attending the Republican Governors Association (RGA) conference in New Orleans earlier this week.
“We’re here in June and there’s still a lot going on, but Virginia could be in and that’s very exciting,” Youngkin emphasized.
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The governor was interviewed days before the release of a Fox News poll showing Biden and Trump neck and neck in Virginia.
The survey, conducted June 1-4, pitted the Democratic president against his Republican predecessor in a head-to-head matchup, with each receiving an approval rating of 48%.
In the multi-candidate race, Biden has 42% of the vote, Trump has 41%, Democrat-turned-independent Robert K. Kennedy has 9%, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West have 2% each.
Yugkin won the governor’s office in 2021, and Republicans also won the lieutenant governor and attorney general races, scoring their first statewide victory in 12 years. Republicans also took control of the state Legislature, victories in states that had been dominated by Democrats for the past decade that have energized Republicans across the country.
But last November, Democrats recaptured their majority in the state House of Representatives and maintained control of the state Senate, a setback for Youngkin, who had been leading the Republican offensive even though his name was not on the ballot.
Looking ahead to this fall’s election, Youngkin said he has his “full support” for Trump and “we’re going to campaign hard to win this election.”
There was speculation last year that Governor Youngkin might run for the White House himself, but he has remained firmly focused on his home state.
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When asked about potentially running for the White House in 2028, Youngkin pivoted and said, “My number one priority is to be the best governor I can be for our state. I can honestly say that I love this job. We’ve made great progress, and I have nearly two more years to continue doing for Virginia what Virginians want me to do.”
Youngkin cited some of his accomplishments so far as governor and touted that his “common sense conservative policies are working.”
Political observers also see Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, as a likely contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028.
When asked about his next political move, Kemp told Fox News Digital that he’s “focused on winning in 2024 and then nothing else after that.”
Kemp, a popular conservative governor, has drawn the ire of President Trump since late 2020 after certifying Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia after multiple recounts in the presidential election.
After unsuccessfully calling on the governor and other Republican officials in the state to overturn the election results, Trump returned to Georgia twice to criticize Kemp, who is seeking reelection in 2022. But the governor won that year’s Republican gubernatorial primary by a landslide over former Sen. David Perdue, who Trump had backed to oust Kemp.
Asked if he would be involved in helping Trump retake Georgia in the presidential election, Kemp replied, “I’m involved right now. There are a lot of seats at stake in Georgia. Just like in 2022, we’ve got to maintain our majority and protect the state of Georgia. That’s what I’m working on right now, helping make sure we do the ground work to do that and make sure Georgia stays Republican.”
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Kemp was interviewed after Trump became the first former or current president in U.S. history to be convicted of all 34 felony counts in a trial.
Kemp did not say whether a conviction of Trump would make it harder for him to do his job as governor in the fall.
“I’ll let the voters decide. To me, at the end of the day, this is a people’s issue, it’s not about me. It’s not about the district attorney of New York City, who was playing politics,” he said.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is another Republican who is far from an ally of President Trump.
Sununu has been a longtime and vocal Republican critic of the former president and was also one of the biggest supporters and surrogates of Trump’s final challenger in the presidential primary, former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.
After Haley dropped out of the race in March, Sununu reiterated his vote for the Republican standard-bearer, and has said he will continue to vote for Trump even if he is convicted.
When asked if he would campaign with Trump in the battleground state of New Hampshire, the governor said, “I will campaign with candidates who need my support. Trump is Trump. People are going to make up their minds about President Trump whether I have someone campaign with them or not. I want to secure a victory in the state Legislature. We have more than 201 Republicans in the House of Representatives, more than 14 Senators, a strong Executive Council and most importantly, we want to win that corner office.”
At a press conference during the RGA rally, Sununu, who was joined by Governors Youngkin and Kemp and several other governors, emphasized, “The presidential election will take care of itself.We’re going to focus on the state legislative elections that need work.”
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