Trump and the governor have had an on-and-off relationship since Youngkin entered politics three years ago, and relations were particularly strained as Youngkin actively considered running for president. But now they both see the benefits of working together. The two met in person for the first time just two weeks ago.
Youngkin has declined previous opportunities to meet. On the eve of the Super Tuesday primary in March, when Trump held a rally in Richmond, Youngkin He said he appeared because he had a conflict. Instead, at a University of Virginia-Duke University basketball game in Durham, North Carolina, Mr. Youngkin cited other commitments and missed a rally organized for his campaign in October 2021, which Mr. Trump joined by phone and was headlined by former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon.
Trump has struggled in the polls in Virginia, losing it by five points in 2016 and by twice that margin in 2020. During his time in the White House, he dragged the state’s Republican Party down with him, allowing Democrats to take complete control of state government. In 2019, Trump won Virginia for the first time in a generation. He didn’t seriously compete in the state four years ago. His only campaign stop in Newport News was to appeal to voters in neighboring battleground state North Carolina, where Friday’s rally will also appeal to that media market.
But that was before Biden’s popularity plummeted, and recent polls suggest the Old Dominion is a close presidential race. Earlier this month, the Cook Political Report downgraded Virginia from “solid” to “ Cook concluded that the risk of the state switching to Trump remains “low.”
Even independent political analysts and Republican strategists don’t rate Virginia as a top battleground state, but Trump and Youngkin have declared it a hotbed of contention, and Youngkin’s supporters have credited the governor with making Virginia more competitive with his “common sense conservative” policies on education, public safety and the cost of living.
“The fact that we’re even discussing this as a battleground state is Glenn Youngkin in a nutshell,” said Zach Roday, a Republican strategist who has worked with Youngkin in the past. He said the Virginia Republican Party was in a “pretty bleak” situation before the governor flipped Virginia in 2021. “We had no candidates, we had no wins, we had no hope.”
In a recent Fox News interview, Youngkin suggested that his record, like Trump’s, has paved the way for Republicans in a state that hasn’t elected a president since George W. Bush in 2004.
“Voters want to see Trump back in the White House because he’s built a strong America, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen in Virginia over the past few years,” Youngkin told Fox’s Sean Hannity on June 10. “Common-sense conservative policies work. We’ve seen rapid growth in Virginia, and I think voters want to see that on a national level.”
The idea that Trump could improve his chances of victory by campaigning in Virginia or by approaching Youngkin was scoffed at by the Biden campaign and other Democrats, who noted that Biden has opened six campaign offices in the state while the Trump campaign has no significant on-the-ground presence.
“Virginians have rejected Trump every time he campaigned here, and last year his MAGA allies campaigned on his statewide abortion ban, suffering a crushing defeat,” Biden state representative Jake Rubenstein said in a statement. “We look forward to mobilizing voters in every corner of Virginia and defeating Trump for a third time in November.”
“Every time Donald Trump opens his mouth in Virginia, our lead just gets wider,” said Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, one of Virginia’s two representatives on the Biden-Harris campaign’s national election advisory committee.
Mr. Youngkin, a political novice and private-equity executive who pumped $20 million of his own money into the gubernatorial campaign, upended a seemingly Democratic state of Virginia in Mr. Biden’s first year in office, a victory that drew national attention because of its mistimed timing and the political profile of Mr. Youngkin’s Democratic rival, former governor and Clinton friend Terry McAuliffe.
But despite his consistently strong approval ratings, Youngkin hasn’t been able to replicate his election magic: Most of the gubernatorial and congressional candidates he backed across the country lost in 2022. A year later, in his state, Democrats won full control of the state Legislature in a state legislative race that Youngkin backed. He had called for a midterm referendum on his term as governor.
Virginia House Speaker Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) questioned how Youngkin could smooth Trump’s path in a state that had just vetoed the governor’s bill. We will be proactive in the November congressional elections.
“Virginia is a competitive state, but people need to be aware that whatever they’re smoking, it’s not yet legal in Virginia,” he said.
Roday, who led Youngkin’s 2023 legislative efforts, acknowledged those losses but noted that the primary races were close, with Democrats holding slim leads in both the House and Senate.
“Obviously, we didn’t win,” he said. “Virginia was in a close call, and that’s the Youngkin effect.” … It’s not about whether Youngkin will deliver the win, it’s about the fact that Virginia is a favorite to win, and that’s what Youngkin has done.”
Roday is among several Republican strategists who say Virginia could become an issue, if not a total one. [Virginia to acquire] A position like North Carolina’s — top seven or top six. [swing states]”But the competition is fierce,” he said.
Henry Barbour, a Youngkin supporter, Mississippi Republican National Committee member and nephew of the state’s former governor, feels the same way.
“Look at what he’s done in battleground states — cutting taxes, fighting for parental rights, governing as a conservative — he’s very popular,” he said. “I think he has a bright future and I think former President Trump would be very grateful for the way Governor Younkin has led a Democratic-dominated state into a competitive situation.”
Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Swecker agreed the rally would be a boost for Democrats.
“Virginians see Trump as a convicted criminal who is running an increasingly crazy and dangerous quest for power, inciting political violence and calling the extremists who marched in Charlottesville ‘very fine people,'” she said. “It’s no surprise that a loser like Trump would choose to head to a state that has rejected him twice. He and his anti-abortion policies are so harmful that local Republicans have had no choice but to avoid campaigning with him for the past few years, and are ready to reject him again in November.”
Whatever its impact on voters, the Trump-Youngkin rally will mark a landmark in the sometimes-frayed relationship between two wealthy businessmen who have made unexpected turns in politics.
Youngkin, a former Carlyle Group executive, supported Trump and has refused to acknowledge that Biden rightfully won the White House in 2020 as he seeks the party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2021.
Youngkin accepted Trump’s endorsement but acknowledged Biden’s legitimacy. During the general election, Trump maintained a distance from suburban moderates by embracing MAGA culture war themes like “critical race theory” and “election integrity,” adopting a persona as a friendly basketball dad that appealed to them.
Trump has complained publicly and privately that Youngkin did not give him enough credit for his victory, a rift that has only deepened as Youngkin spent the first two years of his term exploring a 2024 presidential run, prompting Trump to lash out on social media in a move that echoes Republican anti-China rhetoric.
“Young Kin (funny way to put it – sounds Chinese) from Virginia would not have won without me,” Trump wrote.
Youngkin has been on and off the MAGA message over the years, campaigning for contested gubernatorial candidates like Arizona’s Kali Lake in 2022 and condemning Trump’s various criminal allegations while remaining neutral in the presidential primary until rival Nikki Haley stopped campaigning the morning after Trump’s landslide victory on Super Tuesday.
Youngkin tweeted his support around 9 p.m. Wednesday, but the post got lost in another piece of news happening around that hour: The $2 billion taxpayer-backed sports stadium the governor wanted to build for the Washington Capitals and Wizards never got off the ground.
Trump and Youngkin appeared to put all that behind them during a private meeting on June 12 at Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia, where the governor presented internal polling results that suggested the state was winnable. The campaign released a blurry photo of Trump standing next to Youngkin. The former commander in chief gave a thumbs-up, but Youngkin, in a slight violation of Trump’s photo-taking etiquette, did not give a thumbs-up in response.
The awkwardness continues.
After the meeting, when Trump casually told reporters he might consider Youngkin as a running mate, the governor’s team went unreachable and chose not to respond to requests for comment.
It’s widely known he is considering a presidential run in 2028, and Youngkin has expressed interest in joining the debates — he’s back in domestic politics and waiting to see if he gets a major speaking opportunity at next month’s Republican National Convention — but he’s not on the short list.
During a recent interview with Hannity, Youngkin avoided answering repeated questions from the Fox host about whether he would serve as Trump’s running mate if asked. Youngkin said he would have to get the job done as governor, a change of tone from when the governor was considering a presidential run in 2024 and when he explicitly refused to commit to serving out his term, which ends in January 2026.
“I’m honored and humbled to tell him that there’s a lot of talented people in the Republican Party today, I see them all over the place, and that it’s my job as I finish my term as governor to help him win in Virginia,” Youngkin told Hannity.
“Is that a no-go?” Hannity asked, before bursting into laughter when Youngkin repeated the “abundant talent” line.
