Glenn Youngkin: America's Next President?

by Justin Soutar

Trump fans in general and Republicans in particular who were bitterly disappointed by the results of last year’s elections in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia are now eagerly searching for strong leaders who can decisively win future elections. The Commonwealth of Virginia recently concluded four remarkable years under one such leader.

Glenn Youngkin towers head and shoulders above the field of contemporary Virginia governors and their accomplishments. Confident, energetic, indefatigable, and laser-focused on achieving his stated goal of making the Old Dominion the best place in the nation to live, work, and raise a family in the twenty-first century, he accomplished more in four years than his four most recent predecessors combined. In short, he made Virginia great again.

Entering the Richmond governor’s mansion in January 2022, Youngkin inherited a state that was losing population and tax revenue, that was failing economically and educationally, where personal and religious freedoms were curtailed. As he put it, “Virginia was losing.” Governor Youngkin’s independent thinking, unfailing common sense, incredibly hard work, authentic bipartisanship, and selfless dedication to public service led to innovative approaches, smart laws, and sound policies that transformed Virginia into a beacon of excellence, prosperity, and freedom. In his final State of the Commonwealth address in January 2026, he triumphantly declared, “Virginia is winning!”

The positive effects of Glenn Youngkin’s great leadership will continue to be felt in the Commonwealth for years to come. In the course of his extraordinary administration, Governor Youngkin signed more than 2,000 bills into law, the vast majority with bipartisan support—an astonishing achievement. Furthermore, he served without pay, donating 100 percent of his salary to charities.

He cut income taxes and business regulations to stimulate investment and economic growth and handed billions of dollars in tax relief to ordinary Virginians. The $156 billion invested in Virginia during his term, which resulted in more than 100,000 new jobs, exceeded the total amount invested under the previous six governors combined. He balanced the budget and generated record revenue surpluses for the state through sales and use taxes. He raised the state minimum wage to $12.77 an hour.

He secured millions of dollars in federal funding for abandoned mine land development, turning economically struggling southwest Virginia into a hub of nuclear energy research and technology. His Energy Plan rejected arbitrary renewable energy mandates in favor of a flexible, “all of the above” approach to modernizing and expanding Virginia’s electrical grid. He created the largest offshore wind energy farm in the western hemisphere. He set policies for the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence.

He repealed misguided public health mandates imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. His “Right Help, Right Now” program made mental health care more accessible and affordable. He enacted the largest education budget in Virginia history, raised teacher pay, put parents back in charge of their children’s education, banned cell phone use in public school classrooms, and kicked boys out of girls’ locker rooms.

He distributed hundreds of development grants to communities large and small across the Commonwealth, boosting Virginia’s recreation and tourism industries to new heights. He eliminated thousands of foreign nationals and illegal immigrants from the state’s voter rolls in 2024, for which he was sued by the Biden administration’s Department of Injustice, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in his favor.

He forbade state employees from using TikTok for official business due to Chinese Communist Party control of the social media platform. And under his leadership, the Virginia State Police seized thousands of pounds of fentanyl and other illegal drugs, arrested dozens of MS-13 gang members, and investigated unlawful teen abortions without parental knowledge facilitated by a high school in Northern Virginia.

That just scratches the surface of Glenn Youngkin’s accomplishments as Governor of Virginia. None of them may have happened. As a successful businessman, a solid family man and a devout Christian running for governor of a state Biden had won by ten points the previous year, with no previous political experience and former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, Youngkin wasn’t expected to win the 2021 gubernatorial election. But former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s foolish claim in a pre-election debate with Youngkin, “Parents shouldn’t be telling schools what to teach their kids,” was wildly unpopular with Virginia parents, which helped ensure Youngkin’s surprise victory.

With a record like this, it’s no surprise that Glenn Youngkin has set his sights on the White House. If he has a canny political strategist, just as Bush had Karl Rove and Trump had Dick Morris, his presidential bid may very well be successful. Such a strategist will help him raise the campaign money he needs, increase his visibility on the national stage, and focus on key issues that really matter to voters.

Republicans and Trump supporters looking to win the 2028 presidential election would do well to unite around Glenn Youngkin as Trump’s successor. While they are two different men, there are many parallels between Trump and Youngkin. His legendary work ethic, traditional family values, strong Christian faith, unsullied integrity, longtime business experience, excellent communication and debating skills, practical governing style, and promises made and kept are unmistakably similar to Trump’s.

The popular and phenomenally successful MAGA Republican governor of a Democratic-leaning state will be a strong candidate who will attract many independent and some Democratic voters, as Trump did. He is a great leader who not only can win, but knows how to win. He can be trusted to carry the Trump legacy forward into the next decade. He is also relatively young, around 60. And unlike younger presidential hopefuls J. D. Vance and Marco Rubio, whose real and alleged differences of opinion with Trump are constantly and unfairly exploited by dishonest and irresponsible secular media, Washington outsider Youngkin carries no such baggage.

Additionally, those seeking to break the current Democratic stranglehold on Virginia should not discount the possibility of Republican presidential candidate Glenn Youngkin carrying his home state and its thirteen electoral votes. In any case, America has not had a president from Virginia in more than one hundred years.

Donald J. Trump has been the greatest President of the United States since Ronald Reagan. If anyone can fill his enormous shoes, it is certainly Glenn Youngkin.

Copyright © 2026 Justin D. Soutar.

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