Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., ordered the U.S. and state flags to be “flown at half-staff'” on Monday in remembrance of Corey Comperatore, a volunteer fireman, was killed at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. where Trump survived an assassination attempt.
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Virginia has again ranked first in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business index, its sixth time topping the chart since CNBC started the survey in 2007.
States are ranked on 128 metrics in 10 “broad categories of competitiveness” selected through consultation with business and policy specialists and the states.
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Amid the intense scrutiny over whether Democrat President Joe Biden is mentally and physically fit for a second term, he appears to be losing ground in the Democratic stronghold New York – which hasn’t voted in favor of a GOP presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Polls over the past four months show presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has cut Biden’s lead to just 8 points across New York, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1.
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A Northern Virginia school district will teach kindergartners about gay parents and middle schoolers about transgenderism in the wake of a unanimous vote late last month—despite significant parental opposition.
The Fairfax County School Board unanimously approved changes to its Family Life Education Curriculum on June 27 that include “broadening examples of family structures to be more inclusive of the many different families in our schools.”
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares hinted he may announce his run for governor following the conclusion of the 2024 presidential election. Miyares made the remarks while attending former President Donald Trump’s rally in Chesapeake, Virginia on Friday.
Miyares made the comments after National Review asked the attorney general whether he was considering a run to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin, who is unable to seek another term.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin declared in an interview that “Virginia is in play” for former President Donald Trump, following President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance on Thursday.
Youngkin said of the Thursday debate during his Friday morning “Fox & Friends” appearance, “America saw, it was on display, strength versus weakness.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday night congratulated State Senator John McGuire (R-Goochland) on his apparent victory over Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) in the close Republican primary race in Virginia’s 5th Congressional district.
Noting the candidates are separated by less than 400 votes, or about 0.6 percent of the more than 62,000 ballots cast, Youngkin stated he will respect Good’s “right tor request a recount,” but concluded his message with a call for Republican unity.
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Former President Donald Trump appears poised to invest heavily in Virginia in the 2024 election as new polling data suggests the Old Dominion could be competitive for Republicans for the first time in 20 years.
The state has not backed a Republican for president since George W. Bush in 2004 and trended increasingly Democratic over the years until GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s upset win in 2021 reignited Republican hopes in the commonwealth. The GOP struggled, however, in the 2023 legislative elections, with many analysts pinning the blame on the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which forced Republicans to play defense on the issue of abortion during that cycle. The party lost control of the House of Delegates and failed to seize control of the state Senate in those elections.
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The Founders built America on a rock, but today, because of the Left, the rock is crumbling, and the country must assert moral clarity on several fronts to fix it, said Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who fired up the crowd at the Road to Majority Conference Saturday.
“They built it on rock. They unleashed a wave of freedom across the world with the prosperity of seeing a shining sea, the greatest nation ever built,” Youngkin said. “Yet today, we can feel the great American house shaking. Across our college campuses, echoes of extermination speech, while chaos roars across our borders.”
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The first meeting of the task force Preserving Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program was held Monday, with many of its members and those in attendance raising their voices or holding back tears as they spoke.
“I thought VMSDEP was a formal thank you to the families of veterans, the Gold Star families,” said one attendee, the wife of a retired marine. “I am so sorry that we cost you too much,” she said, choking back tears.
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Virginia’s budget for fiscal years 2025-2026 Monday after the state’s General Assembly voted to pass it in a special session convened for that purpose.
The $188 billion biennial budget was agreed upon at the tail end of last week after protracted and extensive negotiations between Youngkin and conferees.
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Scores of students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) staged a walkout during their Saturday morning graduation ceremony as Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took the podium to deliver a commencement address, The Washington Post reported.
The walkout, which consisted of approximately 100 out of 1,200 students, was a display of support for Palestinians and a demonstration against Youngkin’s stance against racial equity initiatives in schools, according to the Post. Youngkin and Virginia’s colleges and universities, including VCU, are battling over whether tax-payer funding should go toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin met with Finland President Alexander Stubb, discussing opportunities the commonwealth and the northern European country can strengthen their business relationship.
The two leaders met in the nation’s capital, Helsinki as part of the governor’s economic tour of Europe. Youngkin used the visit to cement an established relationship between Virginia and Finland.
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Activists who participated in the “Gaza Liberation Encampment” at Virginia Tech brought children to the ill-fated protest before dozens of protesters were arrested by police, suggests video posted to social media on Sunday.
One video that surfaced on the social media platform X on Sunday after police ordered protesters to leave the encampment included a child who led the protesters in a chant. The video was captioned to ask police whether they are scared by children.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin in a Sunday appearance on CNN pledged to protect the First Amendment on Virginia’s college campuses, but also vowed to keep Jewish students safe from “hate speech and intimidation” from anti-Israel protesters.
The governor stated during an appearance with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union that his administration will allow protesters to peacefully demonstrate against Israel while preventing the establishment of anti-Israel encampments and protecting the rights of Jewish students.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Wednesday he will embark on a week-long “international trade mission” to Europe as lawmakers continue work on the biennial Virginia budget ahead of the May special legislative session.
The governor’s office confirmed Youngkin’s “third international trade mission” will include stops in Germany, Denmark, Finland and Swizterland between April 28 to May 3. He plans to meet with business leaders, public officials and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed he will “work with legislators” to achieve compromise legislation addressing controversial skill games machines.
The Virginia Senate tossed Youngkin’s version of the bill, with just six senators voting in favor and 34 voting against. Youngkin’s amended bill sought to place strict restrictions on legislation that originally would have allowed skill games in convenience stores throughout the commonwealth.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin and Democratic leaders in the Virginia General Assembly confirmed on Wednesday they will release a budget in May and pass it during a special legislative session.
The governor’s office released a joint statement including Youngkin, Speaker of the House Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), Senate Finance Chair L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and House Appropriations Chair Luke Thorian (D-Dumfries) confirming they will continue work on a bipartisan budget that will ultimately be unveiled on May 13.
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A coalition of conservative leaders in Virginia praised Governor Glenn Youngkin for his “Common Ground Budget” and record vetoes on Monday.
The Virginia Conservative Leaders Coalition celebrated the governor’s “thoughtful navigation of Virginia’s fiscal priorities” in a Tuesday press release by Virginia Institute Action. The group claims the compromise budget proposed by Youngkin “exemplifies his leadership in bridging divides.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed in comments made Wednesday that he dropped his request for tax cuts as an olive branch to Virginia’s Democratic lawmakers, who the governor hopes will similarly drop their requests for tax hikes.
Youngkin maintained that Virginia does not “need to raise taxes” and has “plenty of money in the system” during an interview with WTOP News. He told the outlet that Virginia lawmakers should “press forward with an agreement that we won’t raise taxes, and I will stop advocating to reduce them.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin received praise on Wednesday in a commercial celebrating his decision to amend a bill critics argue would have allowed illegal immigrants to receive free healthcare by expanding a federal program.
As passed by lawmakers, SB 119 would expand the federal 340B program that was designed to for hospitals to buy drugs at discounted prices in order to provide healthcare to low-income individuals.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Monday night finished acting on the more than 1,000 bills passed by Virginia lawmakers during the 2024 legislative session, signing nearly 800 bills into law.
In total, Youngkin signed 777 bills into law. The governor made amendments to an additional 116 bills, sending them back to lawmakers for further review, and vetoed 153.
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A March poll of Virginia Republicans found Lt. Governor Winsome Sears is the current favorite candidate to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin in 2025, with Attorney General Jason Miyares currently behind by more than 25 points.
The Cyngal pollsters claim Sears “holds an impressive 28-point advantages over Miyares on the governor’s ballot,” with 43.5 percent of support from Republicans. While Miyares had a distant 15.8 percent of support, a decisive 40.7 percent of those polled said they remain undecided.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday announced a veto of legislation that would have mandated “environmental literacy” education across the commonwealth’s schools.
The governor vetoed HB 1088, which would have mandated the Virginia Board of Education to create or purchase “instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy that are based on and include peer-reviewed scientific sources.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin was accused of using his veto power to “punish” Democratic lawmakers who contributed to the defeat of his plans to build an arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Alexandria, Virginia.
After Youngkin vetoed Democratic-led bills to enact a $15 per hour minimum wage and regulate the legal sale of marijuana in the commonwealth, Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) suggested the governor is using his veto to punish his political opponents but conceded to 13 News Now, “Nothing that [Youngkin] did was unexpected.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Friday vetoed bills to regulate marijuana and raise the minimum wage, which were positioned by Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly as possible bargaining chips in negotiations to build an arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Alexandria, Virginia.
The arena project was officially pronounced dead last week, when Monumental Sports and Entertainment announced a deal with Washington, D.C. to stay in the nation’s capitol for decades on Wednesday.
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed bills Thursday that would have raised Virginia’s minimum wage to $13.50 per hour in 2025 and $15 in 2026.
The companion bills were among the first to be prefiled by General Assembly Democrats, indicating their status as high-priority legislation.
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Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday vetoed legislation that would have created a state-regulated market for recreational marijuana sales.
The Old Dominion currently permits qualified patients to secure marijuana for medical purposes and in 2021 legalized its use and cultivation by residents aged 21 and older, though it has not yet approved a framework for legal retail sales, according to The Hill. The measure would have set up the process to permit the market to open in May of 2025 and set up a maximum tax rate of 11.625%, the Associated Press reported.
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Virginia is beginning to experience some of the impacts from the cargo ship crash that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, closing a vital shipping lane leading to one of the eastern seaboard’s busiest ports.
Shortly after on Thursday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin offered to assist neighboring Maryland. Within hours, the commonwealth’s ports were already preparing to absorb some of the diverted shipping traffic.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on took action regarding 67 pieces of legislation Tuesday, with a number of gun control bills vetoed, amended or signed by the governor.
Youngkin said in a statement his actions represent a balance between advancing public safety and “protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms.”
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Democratic leaders from the Virginia General Assembly held a press conference on Monday to discuss the state of negotiations to pass a budget for the commonwealth, raising claims about the governor’s behavior and aptitude during the negotiations.
Various Democratic leaders declared themselves the “adults in the room” during budget negotiations, claimed Governor Glenn Youngkin lacks political aptitude and accused his administration of acting like “spoiled brats” while refusing to respect the separation of powers.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly are reportedly working on plans to build a new facility for the Washington Capitals and Wizards in Fairfax County after the defeat of proposed legislation to build the arena in Alexandria.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) pitched a plan to use the money from a new casino in Fairfax County to build an arena, according to The Washington Post. Surovell’s plan reportedly has the support of the company seeking to build the casino, as well as political consultant Ben Tribbett, who the outlet reported also works for Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday announced that he vetoed 22 crime bill passed by Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly that he said “would have undermined public safety” in the commonwealth.
Youngkin confirmed the 22 vetoes in a press release announcing action on 60 bills. In addition to the vetoes, Youngkin signed 36 bills into law and made amendments to two.
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Various state legislators are focusing on post-election audits ahead of the November 2024 general election, with Republicans looking to implement or improve audits in some states, while Democrats in one state are trying to prevent an audit of the presidential election.
Post-election audits have been on the books of some states for years, most famously, the “hanging chad recount” fought over in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. The issue of post-election audits and the ensuing litigation has received renewed attention since the 2020 presidential election, after numerous irregularities were discovered. The Arizona Senate post-election audit was one of the more famous following the 2020 race. Dispositive evidence that irregularities “moved the needle” one way or another is still a point of contention.
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Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas acknowledged in a Tuesday interview that Governor Glenn Youngkin could veto the budget proposed by lawmakers, but nonetheless insisted any compromise that would fund the creation of the Potomac Yards arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals is a “non-starter.”
In her Tuesday interview with WTOP News, she acknowledged Youngkin’s remarks indicating “he may have to veto the budget,” calling it “his prerogative.” Still, she pledged, “at no point will I ever be in a position to say I am going to commit state tax dollars for an arena that’s going to benefit billionaires,” calling it “a non-starter for me.”
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A Democrat in the Virginia General Assembly claims Governor Glenn Youngkin has refused efforts to bargain his Potomac Yards arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals.
Youngkin’s office reportedly told State Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) that the governor has no interest in signing legislation that would create a legal market for marijuana in the commonwealth, even though Virginia legalized the drug in 2021.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin twice referred to the budget proposed by the Virginia General Assembly as “backward” in remarks made Monday, setting the stage for a showdown with Democratic lawmakers in April.
Youngkin first said the commonwealth’s lawmakers created a “backward budget” in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Friday acted on more than 80 bills approved by the Virginia General Assembly. In total, the governor signed 64 new bills into law, amended 12 and vetoed eight.
Youngkin called the 64 bills he signed into law “bipartisan” and “a clear demonstration of what can be achieved when we set politics aside and work together for Virginians” in a statement.
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Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Friday banning legacy admissions at public colleges in the state.
Several states have moved to eliminate legacy admissions, which are admissions based on prior familial attendance to a school, after the fall of race-based admissions at the Supreme Court in June 2023. The bill passed the Virginia Senate with bipartisan support, 39-0, and passed the state’s House of Delegates 99-0, and has now been signed by Youngkin.
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Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears on Thursday reportedly declined to endorse former President Donald Trump when asked by reporters in a move just hours after Governor Glenn Youngkin formally announced his endorsement for the former president.
Sears was apparently asked about a potential Trump endorsement while walking to the Virginia Senate, and reporter Graham Moomaw reported she replied, “Everyone has to make their own decision.”
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A poll of Virginia Republicans released Tuesday shows the majority would be less likely to support Governor Glenn Youngkin in the future if he does not veto a bill expanding a federal drug program which makes funding available for hospitals to provide care for illegal immigrants.
The Tyson Group poll asked Virginia Republicans if they would be more or less likely to support Youngkin in the future “if he strengthened a program that subsidizes healthcare for illegal immigrants?”
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Another Virginia Democrat suggested Governor Glenn Youngkin will need to approve a partisan bill that would allow the commercial sale of marijuana in order to secure key support for a bill to fund the construction of an arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Commanders in Potomac Yards.
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) told Axios on Tuesday that he has “been very clear” with Youngkin, and explained, “if the governor would like the arena, that cannabis has to be part of the discussion.”
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The Virginia General Assembly approved a unified bill that would legalize controversial skill games throughout the commonwealth on Friday. Critics, who argue the devices would institutionalize gambling throughout Virginia, have called for Governor Glenn Youngkin to veto the bill.
After the Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate passed wildly differing versions of legislation to legalize skill games, the General Assembly agreed on combined legislation that limits bars and other places that sell liquor to four machines and truck stops to 10 machines. Lawmakers also seek to impose a 25 percent tax rate on proceeds generated by the machines.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reportedly offered Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) more than $300 million in toll relief for Hampton Roads in exchange for her approval for the Potomac Yards Arena to be built for the Washington Commanders and Wizards to move to the commonwealth, according to a Tuesday report.
The governor and his office “have privately pitched a $322 million plan for toll relief in Hampton Roads,” according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, which reported the offer the Youngkin administration privately outlined the offer to lawmakers, and noted the total is more than three times the $92 million plan requested by Lucas.
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A spokesman for Governor Glenn Youngkin expressed “serious concerns” about both bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly to allow skill games in convenience stores and bars throughout the commonwealth, citing a series of potential issues with the legislation in a statement provided to The Virginia Star.
The administration’s concern about skill games comes amid calls to veto the legislation, and as The Star publisher John Fredericks warns that inaction by the governor could be a “presidential killer” should Youngkin run for the White House in 2028.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin must decide the fate of gun rights in Virginia after Democrats narrowly passed three bills they claim will reduce gun violence in the commonwealth.
The bills, passed by the Virginia General Assembly between Wednesday and Friday, seek to regulate how gun owners in the commonwealth must store their firearms and where they can be carried.
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In a statement released Tuesday, Governor Glenn Youngkin committed to see through his plans to bring the Washington Wizards and Capitals to Alexandria, Virginia with a new sports and entertainment district complete with new facilities for the teams to play.
Youngkin made the declaration after a breakdown of negotiations with two major unions resulted in their opposition to the arena, and after Virginia Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) successfully stalled a Senate bill necessary for the arena project to begin and now controls the fate of the House version of the bill after it landed in the Senate Finance Committee she chairs.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly narrowly passed a bill that would protect same-sex marriage in the commonwealth in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, which effectively legalized same-sex unions throughout the country in 2015.
HB 174 seeks to amend Virginia law to declare that “no person authorized” to “issue a marriage license shall deny the issuance of such license to two parties contemplating a lawful marriage on the basis of sex, gender, or race of such parties” with an exception for religious organizations and clergy members, who “shall have the right to refuse to perform any marriage.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin wrote in defense of the Democratic Speaker of the House of Delegates on Thursday after the Republican Party of Virginia (VAGOP) cited the felony drug conviction of Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) and claimed he wants to lower the penalties for drug crimes to help drug dealers in a post to social media.
In a now-deleted post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the VAGOP reportedly wrote, “Is it any surprise that [Scott] spent 8 years in federal prison for peddling drugs to college kids, and now he’s obsessed with legislation to cut breaks for drug dealers? Anything for your buddies, right?”
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly narrowly passed legislation that will raise the commonwealth’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. Their votes came despite Governor Glenn Youngkin previously suggesting such legislation was unnecessary.
HB 1 previously passed the Virginia House of Delegates on February 2 in a partisan vote with 51 in favor and 49 against. In the Virginia Senate, the bill’s counterpart, SB 1, also passed along partisan lines, with 21 votes in favor and 19 votes against.
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