FIRST ON FOX: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia’s is leading the charge in a GOP effort to make it easier to vote absentee by mail or early in-person ahead of his state’s crucial off-year elections this November.
The move by Youngkin, which the governor announced Tuesday in a live appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” comes as the GOP aims to take total control of the state government in Virginia, a one-time battleground state that had trended towards the Democrats until Youngkin led a sweep of statewide offices in the 2021 elections.
“Your vote matters and we’re going to need engagement from everyone interested in moving Virginia forward to be successful. We can’t go into Election Day down thousands of votes,” Youngkin said in a statement shared nationally first with Fox News Digital, as he pointed towards a recent advantage by Democrats in early in-person voting and balloting by mail.
Republicans are working in November’s contests to flip the state Senate, which Democrats currently control 22-18, while holding onto their majority in the state’s House of Delegates, which the GOP controls 52-48.
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As part of that mission, Youngkin is teaming up with the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV), the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus (VSRC), and the House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC), to launch an effort titled ‘Secure Your Vote Virginia.’
The coordinated program — a data-driven effort to encourage Republicans and swing voters across the Commonwealth to vote absentee by mail or early in-person — is part of the ongoing effort by Youngkin’s campaign and his Spirit of Virginia PAC to paint the state red in November.
“We fundamentally believe Secure Your Vote Virginia is how, together, we can win in 2023 and beyond,” Youngkin said.
In a video, Youngkin highlighted that “to take us to the next level, I need your early vote this year. We can’t go into our elections down thousands of votes. And you can secure your vote before Election Day,” the governor said in a video.
Youngkin energized Republicans nationwide in 2021 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 Virginia. Republicans also won the elections for lieutenant governor and state attorney general.
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Ever since his 2021 victory, political pundits have eyed Youngkin as a potential 2024 Republican presidential contender. But the governor has stayed from the GOP nomination battle, as he’s concentrated his political attention on his duties as governor and on Virginia’s 2023 elections.
Youngkin, however, has not 100% ruled out a White House run next year. And convincing GOP victories in November in the Commonwealth could boost the governor towards a 2024 campaign if the Republican presidential nomination race is unsettled in the late autumn.
The effort in Virginia is similar to what the Republican National Committee is implementing in a coast-to-coast effort for the 2024 elections. The RNC last month launched “Bank Your Vote,” which the national party committee said would “encourage, educate, and activate Republican voters on when, where, and how to lock in their votes as early as possible, through in-person early voting, absentee voting, and ballot harvesting where legal.”
The efforts by the RNC and Youngkin seek to put a dent in the Democrats’ advantage in early voting – and also appear to be an effort to push back against former President Donald Trump’s past repeated criticism of early voting by mail.
Early voting and casting ballots by mail soared in 2020 due to onset of the coronavirus, which was the worst pandemic to strike the globe in a century. But the practice was embraced to a higher degree by Democrats than Republicans, due in part to Trump’s repeated attacks on voting by mail.