Virginia’s Republican governor touted how the commonwealth’s Republican voters are shattering records set in 2021 and 2023 in early voting before the commonwealth’s November 7 Election Day, when all 140 seats in both chambers of the General Assembly are up for grabs.
“There was a lot of people who voted early and across the state. We’ve seen an uptick in early voting and absentee ballot, and particularly in our battleground districts, we’ve seen a really good movement,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin, speaking to Fox News Digital on Friday.
✅Governor @GlennYoungkin says he’s seen an uptick in early voting by Republicans. pic.twitter.com/6jLQcFBqMg
— YoungkinWins (@YoungkinWins) November 3, 2023
Youngkin said he wants people who came out to vote in 2021 but stayed home in 2022 to come out again, as the governor, limited to one term, leads his party in the fight to hold control of the House of Delegates and win control of the State Senate.
“This is all about getting people off the sidelines and to vote, and I’ve said before we had 500,000 people who voted for Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares and me in ‘21 and didn’t turn out in 2022 for the midterms,” he said.
Two years ago, Winsome Earle-Sears was elected lieutenant governor, and Jason Miyares was elected attorney general—the same year Youngkin won the one term he is allowed to serve.
In 2019, Democrats won control of the State Senate, holding a 22-18 edge that they have leveraged into an embargo of Youngkin’s conservative agenda.
In 2021, Youngkin’s coattails were enough to carry Republicans to a 52-48 advantage in the House of Delegates.
“We get these folks off the sidelines, and we win,” he said.
“I’ve been really pleased with the turnout so far,” he said. “People are voting, and that’s the most important thing. Get off the sidelines, come vote. We’re going to have good turnout, and that’s how we’re going to win.”
According to records as of November 1 calculated by the Virginia Public Access Project from the Virginia Department of Elections, Republicans continue to surpass their early vote performances in the previous two election cycles.
Republicans are responsible for 41 percent of early in-person voting ballots, compared to 39 percent in 2022 and 38 percent in 2021.
In the mail-in ballots, Republicans are responsible for 24 percent of the ballots turned in, compared to 21 percent in 2022 and 18 percent in 2021.
As Republicans improve their early voting numbers, Democrats are falling off from their previous achievement.
Democrats are responsible for 53 percent of early in-person voting ballots, down from 56 percent in 2022 and 54 percent in 2021.
Virginia Democrats have dominated early mail-in ballots for a generation, but even here, there has been a drop-off. Democrats are responsible for 67 percent of early mail-in ballots, down from 70 percent in 2022 and 71 percent in 2021.
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Neil W. McCabe is a staff reporter for The Virginia Star.
Photo “People Voting” by Joe Shlabotnik. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
