He is a fresh face with star quality, clearly on the rise after stunning the political world with his victory in a closely watched gubernatorial race – and raising eyebrows by doing so in a typically purple battleground state. He is widely viewed as a deft politician in many ways perfectly representative of the next generation of conservative leadership sought by a party needing an infusion of young blood and stability. And he might well be favored to defeat Joe Biden in a head-to-head race for the presidency.
You will be excused for thinking that description applies to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — because it did months ago, before his support paradoxically diminished with successive indictments of frontrunner Donald Trump, rendering DeSantis a virtual also-ran at this point. But now, such a portrayal fits like a glove on the presidential “non-candidate candidate” who governs the Commonwealth of Virginia and by most accounts aspires to even higher office, Glenn Youngkin.
The chattering class has started to buzz and re-imagine the on-again, off-again prospect of a Youngkin candidacy following his appearance recently at a fundraiser hosted by former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for conservative elites in the Hamptons, New York’s famed summer hideaway for the rich and famous. While Youngkin has reportedly intimated that he is not interested in running head-to-head against Trump, as the New York Post’s Page Six reports, “we hear Youngkin is limbering up anyway just in case the 45th president can’t run because of his ever-increasing load of legal woes.” Indeed, Republicans concerned more with winning than with the bona fides of their ultimate nominee, have long been worried about Democrats rolling out endless footage of Jan. 6 and Trump being arrested on a loop for months on end.
So, what if 2024 arrives, and the indictment-fueled surge Trump has enjoyed begins to reverse as the election approaches? To call the present situation uncharted territory would be the understatement of the year — if not in all of American political history — when attempting to sort out the full range of implications flowing from the unprecedented Trump indictments. We have never before had to consider consequences of a major party nominee being repeatedly arrested — and very possibly being convicted or even sentenced to prison — by his political enemies.
Glenn Youngkin: Cool, Calm, Collected
Glenn Youngkin (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Presenting as amiable, relatable, and yet firm and steady in his convictions and effective in their application — like DeSantis in Florida — the 56-year-old Youngkin is akin to the talented backup quarterback you yearn for when the all-pro starter begins to waver, the trump card (pun somewhat intended) you hold until you need to play it, the shiny object to which one’s political hopes and dreams can be attached. And thus he is basking in the glow of an image so far devoid of the tarnish inevitably resulting from the type of no-holds-barred primary that has elevated a few but diminished many a presidential hopeful over the years.
It is true that in politics, as in life, one must strike when the iron is hot. That is why DeSantis, in the wake of his landslide re-election in the Sunshine State, immediately pivoted to a presidential campaign without missing a beat — realizing he would likely never again be as popular and acclaimed as at that moment. Likewise, Youngkin ran a flawless campaign as a rookie candidate, ousting the quintessential career politician Terry McAuliffe in 2021 — just as DeSantis disposed of notoriously fickle careerist Charlie Crist in 2022 — turning the tide in long-red but increasingly blue Virginia.
But at the same time, why should Youngkin sully himself in a multi-candidate field utterly dominated by Trump and in debates designed to sort out a field of impressive also-rans seeking the position of distant runner-up? The Virginia governor can wait four years, after the long shadow of Trump will no longer be cast upon the GOP, given his constitutional limit of one more term in the White House.
Since he is not an announced candidate, there is precious little hard data on a possible Youngkin presidential run. However, a recent poll from Virginia Commonwealth University showed that Trump would narrowly lose to Biden in Virginia, while Youngkin would rout the Democratic incumbent by 14 points. Billionaire and Republican mega-donor Thomas Peterffy, who recently switched his allegiance from DeSantis to Youngkin and contributed a cool $1 million to the Virginia governor’s PAC, expressed the growing view among conservatives worried about Trump’s trajectory when he told Fox News that Youngkin “could beat Donald Trump, he could beat anybody.” But first, he must decide to run — or prepare to answer the call of his party and country.
