Month: July 2022

Richmond, VA – This past week marked Governor Youngkin’s first 6 months in office. After inheriting the strongest economy in Virginia’s history, Gov. Youngkin’s first 6 months were filled with far-right culture wars and outright incompetence. From ditching his duties to run for President, to losing Virginia’s coveted “Best State for Business” status after three straight years at the top, one thing is abundantly clear: Governor Youngkin is an extreme culture warrior and has failed to govern Virginia.

Governor Youngkin is no moderate. These past 6 months have shown that Governor Youngkin is a far-right culture warrior who is out of touch with Virginians:

• After the Dobbs decision, Youngkin declared that he would “gleefully” sign any abortion bill that came to his desk, including the complete abolition of abortion in Virginia.
• Youngkin unsuccessfully attempted to remove funding for procedures to support low-income women when a fetus has incapacitating deformities or mental deficiencies and when the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother.
• During his campaign for governor, Youngkin stated his opposition to same-sex marriage.
• Youngkin would not support a constitutional amendment to remove a ban against same-sex marriage from the Virginia Constitution at a time when same-sex marriage is under attack.
• Youngkin waged a war on the word “equity” in Virginia,  calling it a “divisive” term for the teaching of school children.
• Youngkin’s second executive order on his first day as Governor was to ban “divisive concepts”, such as the full context of the black experience of Virginians and Americans. 

Rather than run a competent administration, Governor Youngkin is spending his time traveling around the country running for President. In his first 6 months, Governor Youngkin has shown Virginians the meaning of incompetence:

• Youngkin lost Virginia’s coveted “Best State for Business” status after three straight years of Virginia being ranked at the top.
• Youngkin’s intransigence and lack of leadership caused a months-long delay in Virginia’s budget process, producing a budget months late and nearly causing a government shutdown.
• Youngkin’s bizarre policy banning telework has led to a mass exodus of hundreds of state employees – crippling state services.
• Youngkin became the first governor in over a decade to have a cabinet appointee rejected when the State Senate refused to confirm former Trump EPA Administrator and coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of Natural Resources.
• Youngkin’s official campaign Twitter account attacked a high school student online, causing a media firestorm after the student was ridiculed and harassed by his own supporters. Youngkin never apologized to the student.

“If Governor Youngkin’s first 6 months in office is a glimpse of what the next four years are like, Virginians are in trouble,” said DPVA Spokesperson Gianni Snidle. “6 months on the job and what are Virginians seeing? They’re seeing a Governor who has instilled chaos, sown divisions, and flat-ditched Virginia for higher political aspirations. If Virginians had any doubt before, they know now that Governor Youngkin isn’t some mild-mannered fleece vest-wearing moderate, he is an incompetent far-right culture warrior who puts our Commonwealth at risk.”

Richmond, VA – Governor Youngkin’s Appointee to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources, Ann McLean, said several disgusting comments on WRVA Radio comparing the union during the Civil War to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, praising Robert E. Lee, and defending secession.

BLUE VIRGINIA: Gov. Youngkin’s New Appointee to the VA Board of Historic Resources Says Robert E. Lee Was a “Morally Fine Human Being”; “Secession Was NOT Treason”; the North’s “Invasion” of the South Was “just like we see Russia invading Ukraine”; etc.

According to McLean:

Robert E. Lee was a “morally fine human being who understood the constitution of 1787.”

The constitution was “broken when Lincoln called up 75,000 troops to fight against secession.” And, she added, “secession was not treason…each state was allowed to secede, we all had seceded from Britain…each state was like its own country, so Lee considered Virginia his country.”

“Invasion, just like we see Russia invading Ukraine, invading a new territory was wrong. And so many people want to just flatten the whole Civil War to slavery, and of course we know slavery is not good. But I think…slavery would have been outlawed in the South within 5 or 10 years, but they wanted to do it on their time.”

DPVA Chairwoman Susan Swecker responded to the latest disgusting remarks from a Youngkin appointee: 

It is appalling to see Governor Youngkin appoint someone to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources who somehow in one radio interview: 1) tried to defend secession 2) completely befuddle the language of our Constitution and 3) try to minimize the horrors of slavery with an inane statement that the south would have “phased it out” – as if one would go to war if that was the plan. And let’s not even get into her bizarre take on Russia and Ukraine.

I can’t believe that Governor Youngkin, as he prepares to launch his 2024 campaign, would knowingly appoint someone this unqualified and ignorant of history. We hope and are confident now that he is aware of this that the Governor will withdraw this appointment. We also hope Ann McLean’s advisers, for her own sake, don’t let her near a microphone again.

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Richmond, Va. – Today, Congressman A. Donald McEachin (VA-04) issued the following statement after Governor Glenn Youngkin appointed “historian” Ann Hunter McLean to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources:

“If there was any doubt that Governor Youngkin is an extremist, right-wing politician, here is another example of his inflammatory priorities in action. Since taking office, his appointments have been divisive and contradictory to the values we hold here in the Commonwealth. His latest pick in Ann Hunter McLean demonstrates a frightening lack of cultural and social wherewithal to effectively lead Virginians or steer our great Commonwealth forward.

“For years – and particularly in the wake of George Floyd – civil rights advocates, community leaders, and elected officials in Virginia fought to dismantle oppressive memorials and monuments that paid homage to the Confederacy. To appoint McLean, who has vocally defended Confederate statues and monuments since the late 1990’s, to serve on the Board of Historic Resources shows a blatant disregard for Virginia’s sordid history with racism and the work we have done as a state to rectify those long-standing harms.

“This appointment demonstrates a complete lack of understanding or empathy for the lived experiences of African Americans. Monuments to traitors have no place in our Commonwealth, and we will not allow Governor Youngkin or Ms. McLean to drag us backwards.”