Global Courant 2023-05-02 08:41:49
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, widely regarded as a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate, on Monday ruled out making a bid for the White House this year.
During an appearance at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Youngkin simply answered “no” when asked if he planned to enter a race in which former President Trump, who had endorsed Youngkin for governor, beat the GOP field of candidates challenging President Biden. .
“I’m going to work in Virginia this year,” Youngkin said, adding that he would focus on his state’s legislative elections in November. “I have a House controlled by Republicans and a Senate controlled by Democrats. I want to hold our house and flip our senate.
Youngkin, who could be a potential vice presidential or 2028 presidential candidate, spoke hours later at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley. Echoing Reagan’s optimism, Youngkin glossed over his embrace of the culture wars — such as rolling back rights for transgender students and banning the teaching of critical race theories — as he spoke of his 2021 victory against the Democratic trend in his state, which Democrats had elected governor and U.S. Senate since 2006.
“Virginians made a different choice,” he told about 360 people who paid $65 to hear him speak, saying voters chose to support parental rights, education standards, law enforcement and corporate deregulation. “Conservative policies win because they are based on timeless truths and common sense. And more importantly, common sense works. Virginia is the test case, a positive proof – a state that can swing left and fall behind, made a choice and is now winning.”
Youngkin’s performance, 56, was part of the library’s “Time to Choose” speaker series, which focuses on the future of the Republican Party. It was launched in 2021 after Republicans lost majorities in the White House and Senate and a mob of supporters of former President Trump stormed the US Capitol in hopes of stopping the certification of the 2020 election.
The library has long been a popular stopping point for GOP candidates, but it’s especially important for White House hopefuls this election cycle, as California is holding its 2024 primary early and has the most delegates of any state in the country.
It will be the site of the second Republican presidential primary debate later this year, but Trump appeared on social media to suggest that he should not participate because Fred Ryan, the library’s president, is a Washington Post publisher. “President Ronald Reagan wouldn’t approve!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Ryan served as Reagan’s chief of staff. Trump took part in a debate at the library in 2015.
Youngkin, a wealthy private equity executive who was elected governor in 2021, did not mention Trump by name during his nearly half-hour speech. But his comments about the GOP’s future seemed implicit criticisms of the former president.
“We don’t have to rely on who shouts the loudest to win. You see, we can win with results. And by communicating a message of hope,” Youngkin said. “The Republican Party is a big tent, and we fill it, which we do by addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division.”
Youngkin embraced Trump’s endorsement as he sought the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination in 2021, but once he received it, he kept the former president at bay as he courted moderate suburban voters ahead of the general election .
His dealings with the former president, campaigning for parents’ rights in schools, and an affable, moderate demeanor perhaps best symbolized by his ever-present loose cardigan helped the political novice to win over former governor Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National. Committee and a longtime confidant of former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Still, Youngkin has embraced many of Trump’s policies and those of the GOP’s most conservative wing. Since taking office, he has rolled back rights for transgender students, banned the teaching of critical race theories and tried to restrict access to abortion. He has been associated with election deniers.
“Glenn Youngkin can’t name a single policy difference between him and Trump — and he has the extreme track record to prove it,” said Rhyan Lake, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.
Many of Youngkin’s comments contrasted the policies of Republican-led states with those of Democrats. The only time he specifically mentioned California was about the state’s decision to end sales of gas-powered new cars by 2035. Chinese Communist Party.
“It’s also why Virginians should reject our current law that California should write our vehicle laws,” he said. “This policy not only attacks our personal freedoms, but also plays into the hands of the CCP.”
