Repub­li­can Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Vir­ginia says with Trump’s elec­tion, ‘we’ve got a friend in the White House’

MARCO ISLAND, FL — EXCLUSIVE - After some high-pro­file bat­tles with Pres­i­dent Biden’s admin­is­tra­tion the past three years, Repub­li­can Gov. Glenn Youngkin says that Pres­i­dent-elect Trump’s deci­sive elec­tion vic­to­ry ear­li­er this month means he now has “a friend in the White House.”

Youngkin, the pop­u­lar Vir­ginia gov­er­nor who’s enter­ing his final year in office, argued in an exclu­sive Fox News Dig­i­tal inter­view that “as a gov­er­nor who’s been dri­ving pro-busi­ness and strong edu­ca­tion and safe com­mu­ni­ties and low­er tax rates, we now have some­one in the White House who believes in all of that.”

“I look for­ward to us hav­ing the wind at our backs as opposed to in our face,” Youngkin said as he spoke Tues­day on the side­lines of the Repub­li­can Gov­er­nors Asso­ci­a­tion annu­al win­ter meet­ing, which is being held this year at a south­west­ern Flori­da water­front resort.

And point­ing to his final year steer­ing Vir­ginia, Youngkin said “I can’t wait to see what we’re going to do hav­ing the wind at our back from the Trump admin­is­tra­tion.”

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION

There was plen­ty of spec­u­la­tion regard­ing Youngkin poten­tial­ly serv­ing in a top posi­tion in the sec­ond Trump admin­is­tra­tion, but the gov­er­nor in a recent call with the pres­i­dent-elect made it clear he intends to fin­ish out his term.

But he does­n’t sound like he’s rul­ing out serv­ing in the Trump admin­is­tra­tion after he fin­ish­es up in Rich­mond in a year.

“I told the pres­i­dent when I called him and told him that I want­ed to fin­ish my term, that I would be avail­able to help him at any time while I’m gov­er­nor and after­wards,” Youngkin said.

TRUMP FAR AHEAD OF HIS FIRST TERM PACE IN NAMING HIS CABINET

Youngkin ener­gized Repub­li­cans nation­wide three years ago, as the first-time can­di­date who hailed from the party’s busi­ness wing edged out for­mer Demo­c­ra­t­ic Gov. Ter­ry McAu­li­ffe to become the first GOP can­di­date in a dozen years to win a guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tion in the one-time swing state that had trend­ed towards the Democ­rats over the pre­vi­ous decade.

The gov­er­nor instant­ly became a Repub­li­can rock star and spec­u­la­tion stirred about a pos­si­ble 2024 White House run.

But Youngkin and his par­ty suf­fered a set­back a year ago in leg­isla­tive elec­tions that grabbed out­sized nation­al atten­tion, as Democ­rats retained con­trol of the Vir­ginia state Sen­ate and flipped the House of Del­e­gates.

While Youngkin was­n’t on the bal­lot, he had plen­ty rid­ing on the results, after invest­ing plen­ty of polit­i­cal cap­i­tal on behalf of Repub­li­can leg­isla­tive can­di­dates. The results also meant Youngkin would­n’t have a free hand dur­ing his final two years in office to push through a con­ser­v­a­tive agen­da.

Youngkin returned to the cam­paign trail this year in Vir­ginia and a cou­ple of key bat­tle­ground states, to help cam­paign on behalf of Repub­li­cans up and down the bal­lot.

And he spoke at a large ral­ly Trump held in con­ser­v­a­tive south­west Vir­ginia the week­end before Elec­tion Day. 

While Vice Pres­i­dent Kamala Har­ris car­ried the Com­mon­wealth in the White House race, her mar­gin over Trump was 4.5 points nar­row­er than Pres­i­dent Biden’s vic­to­ry in the state four years ear­li­er, as Trump and Repub­li­cans over per­formed expec­ta­tions.

The results appear to have giv­en Youngkin more clout ahead of his final leg­isla­tive ses­sion. Democ­rats who over the past year were unit­ed in oppo­si­tion to the gov­er­nor’s pro­posed tax cuts, may now be recep­tive to nego­ti­at­ing.

Asked if the Democ­rats are now ready to play ball, Youngkin said “I’m hop­ing they are. I think that the recog­ni­tion that Vir­gini­ans want to keep more of their hard-earned mon­ey has real­ly engaged every­one in a dia­logue on how to pro­vide tax relief.”

He argued the elec­tion results “demon­strat­ed record job growth which has cre­at­ed sur­plus after sur­plus after sur­plus is dri­ven by pro-busi­ness stan­dards.”

And he empha­sized that “we’re going to come back with a big tax pack­age again, and we’re going to make sure we’re stand­ing strong for edu­ca­tion and strong for pub­lic safe­ty.”

“I’m opti­mistic,” he added, but acknowl­edged that “it will be a nor­mal leg­isla­tive process. We have a leg­isla­tive – we’re a one seat minor­i­ty in the House and the Sen­ate – so we have to go to work to get things done.”

All polit­i­cal eyes will be on Vir­ginia in 2025, as the Com­mon­wealth and New Jer­sey are the only two states to hold guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tions in the year after a pres­i­den­tial elec­tion.

But Vir­ginia gov­er­nors, by law, are pre­vent­ed from run­ning for re-elec­tion to a sec­ond straight term.

That does­n’t mean Youngkin will dis­ap­pear from the cam­paign trail in 2025. He says it’s just the oppo­site.

VIRGINIA’S YOUNGKIN ENDORSES HIS LT. GOVERNOR TO SUCCEED HIM

“You’re going to see me a lot,” he tout­ed. “We’ve got a very aggres­sive agen­da for being gov­er­nor in the last 14 months. But part of that agen­da that I have is to make sure that we have [Lt. Gov.] Win­some Sears as our next gov­er­nor. [Vir­ginia Attor­ney Gen­er­al] Jason Miyares back as our attor­ney gen­er­al and a super lieu­tenant gov­er­nor who we will pick at our pri­maries.”

Youngkin pre­dict­ed that “Vir­gini­ans are going to make clear that they want to keep doing more of what we’re doing that’s prov­ing record job growth and oppor­tu­ni­ty and great out­comes in schools and safe com­mu­ni­ties.”

The 2025 Vir­ginia guber­na­to­r­i­al show­down is shap­ing up as a con­test between Sears and Demo­c­ra­t­ic Rep. Abi­gail Span­berg­er, a for­mer CIA offi­cer. The win­ner will make his­to­ry as the state’s first ever female gov­er­nor. And Sears, if she wins, will also make his­to­ry as the nation’s first Black female elect­ed gov­er­nor.

Youngkin pushed back when asked if Sears, who served in the Marine Corps and made his­to­ry as the first woman in Vir­ginia to hold statewide office, is too con­ser­v­a­tive for vot­ers. 

“Not at all,” the gov­er­nor quick­ly respond­ed. “And Win­some is a com­mon­sense con­ser­v­a­tive leader. We have been part­ners lit­er­al­ly from day one. We cam­paigned togeth­er. We were elect­ed togeth­er. We have gov­erned togeth­er. And I look for­ward to see­ing Vir­gini­ans embrace her as the next gov­er­nor of Vir­ginia.”

As for his own polit­i­cal future, Youngkin was less reveal­ing about any future runs for elec­tive office.

Asked about a pos­si­ble but unlike­ly run for the Sen­ate in 2026 against long­time Demo­c­ra­t­ic incum­bent Sen. Mark Wan­er, or a future White House cam­paign, Youngkin quick­ly piv­ot­ed to his day job as gov­er­nor.

“I have a huge year and a few months ahead of me and that’s where my focus is, and I need to fin­ish strong, so Vir­ginia can real­ly con­tin­ue to soar. And that’s what I’m going to spend my time on.”

After that, he said “we’ll see what’s next.”

Fac­ing a fol­low-up ques­tion, Youngkin stayed on script, say­ing “we’ll see what hap­pens down the road, but right now my sights are set on fin­ish­ing strong.”