The Republican governor of Virginia told the host of “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” he wants answers regarding why someone is teaching college students to support Hamas—not Israel—after the October 7 attacks on the Jewish State.
“The bottom line is I question what’s being taught on these college campuses. If we have students that don’t fully understand the brutality of a terrorist group,” said Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is limited to one term.
“Hamas is a terrorist group, and they committed a terrorist act, and they killed women and children, and we have to condemn it,” the Richmond native said.
“Let’s be clear, this was brutal and barbaric,” he said. “They invaded Israel and killed women and children literally in ways that are almost hard to conceive.”
The governor said he is cognizant of the students’ constitutional rights, but their message of support for Hamas has to be challenged—and the people running these campuses must be held accountable.
“I absolutely condemn what’s being chanted at these rallies, and I think we need leadership from our college campuses,” he said.
“If we don’t, we condone it—and there’s no fence to sit on here,” said the 6 feet 7 inches tall son of a Duke University basketball player, who played four years himself at a forward for the Rice University Owls.
Youngkin said to Bartiromo Americans must stand with Israel
“Israel has the absolute right to defend itself,” he said. “They must eradicate a terrorist organization, and we have to stand with them, and I think it just reflects the fact that there is reckless, reckless speech going on across this country at this moment, and we need to be unified in our support of Israel.”
Youngkin leads GOP into November 7 legislative elections
Commonwealth voters elected Youngkin in 2021, and the former Carlyle Group co-CEO’s coattails were enough to help Republicans win a 52-48 advantage in the House of Delegates.
This off-cycle, Youngkin is working to help the GOP keep control of the lower chamber and win control of the State Senate, where Democrats have leveraged their 22-18 edge to jam up the governor’s agenda. The current Senate was elected in 2019. All General Assembly seats are up November 7.
The governor told Bartiromo he was proud of the victories two years ago, but now he wants to lock them down for the second half of his term.
“Maria, we’re in the middle of very important elections, I think the most important elections in the nation,” he said. “We have a chance to put on the ballot our track record of growing jobs and back in the blue and standing up for parents and reinforcing excellence in education.”
The governor said he is struck by the contrast in Virginia’s politics from when he was elected.
“At the heart of this is a state that just 24 months ago, it was completely controlled by the Democrats, and in 24 short months, we’ve put common sense conservative policies to work,” he said.
“Virginia is soaring, and now Virginians have a chance to not just give us our house majority back, but flip the Senate, and therefore, I will no longer have a group of progressive left senators that try to block us at every turn and we can unleash the full potential of the commonwealth,” he said.
The governor raised more than $18 million for his Spirit of Virginia PAC, which he is using to bolster commonwealth candidates. If he wins the trifecta of Republican control of both chambers and the governor’s office, Youngkin will have reversed the narrative, which holds that Virginia is a purple state trending blue.
The Harvard MBA would also become celebrated as a potential challenger to President Donald J. Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
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Neil W. McCabe is a staff reporter for The Virginia Star.
Photo “Youngkin VOICES Speech” by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
