Blandest in the bunch: Virginia's governor went from GOP darling to low on Trump VP list
RICHMOND, Va. - Donald Trump’s short list for vice president has been in the spotlight of speculation, as the political rumor mill churns and voters wait for an official announcement from the former president.
Lurking somewhere between serious contender and no-way-whatsoever: Glenn Youngkin.
It's an awkward place for the 57-year-old Virginia Republican governor. Once touted as a great hope for the Grand Old Party and even as a possible Trump primary rival in 2024, Youngkin has been overshadowed in the VP race by the majority of Republican lawmakers seemingly competing to prove themselves to Trump and his base.
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But he still remains on Trump's radar. The presumptive 2024 presidential Republican nominee said as much to a reporter on Thursday just hours after their first in-person meeting at Trump's private golf club in Northern Virginia. Their exchange was commemorated with an anything-but-historic photograph of the two men standing side-by-side, out of focus and in poor lighting.
This is Glenn Youngkin, the rookie politician who has stood out by not standing out.
Previously a businessman and CEO of the global investment firm the Carlyle Group, Youngkin stepped into the political arena for the first time in his 50s to run for governor in 2021. His defeat of Democrat and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state President Joe Biden carried by ten points just a year earlier was thought to be at the time a potential post-Trump party roadmap.
But with Trump still at the helm of the GOP in 2024, political experts told USA TODAY Youngkin brings little to the table in terms of a potential running mate alongside the 78-year old former president who is trying to win back the White House.
“I think the energy in the Republican Party is more on the populist, pitchfork side of the party, and I don’t think Youngkin, necessarily, is part of that,” said Kyle Kondik, an American elections analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
What has Trump said about Youngkin? Not much, and vice versa
The two men, both businessmen-turned-politicians, have been keeping each other at arm's length – at least until recently.
During Youngkin's 2021 gubernatorial campaign amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump did not appear in person to stump for the then-political newcomer, instead calling in to events that Youngkin didn't attend himself. Thursday's photo, released by the Trump campaign, is the first picture published of the pair together. It came after a meeting about the presumptive Republican nominee's prospects in blue-trending Virginia.
After the meeting, Trump told a Fox News reporter that he liked the idea of Youngkin as a potential running mate.
"He's great. And I think I could consider that. Yes. I haven't, I haven't been asked that question, but he would be on that list. He's very good. We had a great meeting about Virginia," Trump said.
Youngkin had made half-hearted overtures to the former president on social media and in cable news segments.
He did not endorse Trump until after Virginia Republicans voted in Super Tuesday, March 5, when Trump's status as the party’s presumptive nominee crystalized. Trump lauded himself for Youngkin’s victory in Virginia in 2021, an odd-year election, in social media posts but otherwise the governor did not appear to be top of mind for the former president.
Youngkin has been slightly more outspoken in his support of Trump. He has touted recent, mostly conservative-run polls that show the commonwealth as “in play” for Trump and Republicans in 2024 on cable news shows, like CNN’s "The Lead with Jake Tapper." On a recent Fox News segment, Youngkin told a reporter that Trump could be the first Republican presidential candidate to win Virginia in 20 years.
Youngkin's words and those polls should be considered with skepticism. The Trump and Biden presidential campaigns have entered the "head fake" stage of the 2024 presidential race – each claiming they'll take states the other carried in the last election in an effort to get their rival to expend resources in an area that likely will not be a battleground.
The governor opted not to make a public pilgrimage to the New York City courthouse to show support for the former president as he sat trial earlier this spring on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. However, Youngkin did come out lukewarm against the convictions once a verdict was reached.
“The American people see this for what it is: a politically motivated prosecution orchestrated by those who want to 'get' President Trump,” he wrote in a post on X.
Youngkin's time in the Commonwealth so far
Youngkin’s success in 2021 garnered national attention. Hope for his role in the party stretched into 2023, when some top GOP donors and figures raised the governor’s name for a 2024 presidential bid.
But since last fall, Youngkin has faced several in-state setbacks, including Democratic state legislature wins, a failed deal to bring professional D.C.-based sports teams to the Commonwealth, and a battle with the Democratic-led state house over the biennial budget.
“This governor has really been a dud,” said Candi King, a Democratic Virginia delegate.
Republicans in Youngkin’s orbit are more optimistic about how his tenure will be remembered and his prospects beyond the governor’s mansion.
“I think he's made a lot of really positive changes for the Commonwealth,” said Andrew Wheeler, a former member of Youngkin’s cabinet and former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Trump.
“Whatever he does in the future, I'm going to be watching with anticipation,” Wheeler continued. "He's not a career politician, which I think is a plus for him.”
BRISTOW, VIRGINIA - NOVEMBER 07: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin answers questions from members of the media while campaigning at Piney Branch Elementary School November 7, 2023 in Bristow, Virginia. With control of Virginia’s General Assembly at stake, results of the day’s voting could potentially impact the commonwealth’s abortion policies as well as the national political future of Youngkin. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
How Youngkin stacks up to other VP candidates
If Youngkin is picked for Trump's VP candidate, it will not be a surprise that the discussion happened in a quiet meeting with no microphones present.
A short-list of names circulated by multiple media outlets didn't include Youngkin but instead focused on people who have been outspoken Trump backers, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Those four were asked to submit background information to the Trump campaign in early June, according to two people familiar with the process who spoke to USA TODAY.
Sources have also cautioned that the Trump VP list could change, given the former president's penchant for drama and suspense. Others mentioned include Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and former housing secretary Ben Carson.
Regardless of Trump's public compliments to the Virginia governor this week, a source in Youngkin's orbit told USA TODAY the governor is not under serious consideration for vice president and is more like a "proxy" to "freak out" others angling for the spot.
Given that Trump would not ask Youngkin without knowing the answer and the governor will not beg for the job, the source added that they do not believe a running mate proposal will ever happen. Being a No. 2 is just "not DNA" for Youngkin, the person said.
Though being “nice” is a prerequisite when running for public office in Virginia, Youngkin might bristle at the idea of being subservient. As captain of the basketball team during his high school and college days, later co-CEO of a global financial firm, and now executive leader of the commonwealth, Youngkin is used to being in charge.
Youngkin’s seemingly half-hearted efforts to get the attention of the former president could be further evidence that the governor was never interested in the role as Trump’s vice president, after all. Other federal office aspirations could be on his radar – his name was floated as a serious contender for the 2024 presidential primary before Republicans lost Virginia’s statehouse, and rumors have been swirling about his potential in 2028.
For now, Youngkin has his go-to response when asked about the future, saying he's focused on his state and job as governor.
“It's really humbling when people talk about 2024 and a national role for me,” Youngkin told USA TODAY back in August, when rumors swirled about a possible imminent presidential bid that never materialized. “And I thank them, and then I reiterate that I've got a big job to do here in Virginia right now.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blandest in the bunch: Virginia's governor went from GOP darling to low on Trump VP list