Youngkin Reflects on End of Term, Sears Campaign, Relationship with Trump

As his first term comes to an end, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is proud of the “renaissance” the Republican party has led in Virginia, telling National Review in a wide-ranging interview this month that the state has turned a corner on education, job creation, and public safety, issue areas he believes the Trump administration is simultaneously making progress on at the federal level.

The former private equity CEO has been considered a rising star in the GOP since his pandemic-era victory in 2021, when he helped Virginia Republicans flip the commonwealth red for the first time in twelve years on a platform focused on parental rights in K-12 education, public safety, and lower taxes. Four years later, he reflects on his political successes in improving K-12 education standards, public safety, and job growth, net in-state migration, and economic development.

“I have never had a general assembly who was fully aligned with me,” Youngkin said. “We’ve had split government from the moment I came in, and yet we set ambitious goals, and we’ve achieved every one of them.”

To view the complete interview — which includes questions about how Republicans should address the affordability issue in 2026, Youngkin’s assessment on the bipartisan backlash against data centers, and how he’s thinking about his political future — click here.

Youngkin declined to answer questions about what’s next for him after his term ends, including which policy issues he wants to focus on after leaving office in January and whether he has presidential aspirations. Instead, Youngkin maintained that he’s singularly focused on closing out the rest of his term on strong footing and helping Republicans win the midterms. He also touted his “extraordinary working relationship” with the administration, name-checking President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance various members of the cabinet as strong partners during his time as governor.

“My focus over the course of the last four years has been on Virginia. It stays there,” he said when asked if he’d accept an offer to serve in Trump’s cabinet. “One of the things that I’ve appreciated is that President Trump knows that, the administration knows that, and the working relationship that we have had has been spectacular.”

Asked about Virginia Republicans’ poor 2025 election performance and why he thought Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears was the strongest potential gubernatorial candidate to succeed him, Youngkin maintained that the races were tightening before the record-long federal government shutdown, which he says had a “debilitating” effect on the “incredibly disappointing” outcome.

He also insisted that he didn’t put a finger on the scale in the GOP gubernatorial primary, where Earle-Sears ended up running unopposed after incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares decided to run for reelection to his current post. Both candidates, he says, made “individual decisions on what they were going to do.”

“Now, Winsome’s run was Winsome’s run. She announced, without previous disclosure to people, that she was running for governor,” Youngkin said. “Then I sat down with her and Jason Miyares, and I said, ‘Listen, if the two of you run, then I’ll sit out and I’ll support whoever the winner is.’”

“I endorsed both of them when they announced they were going to run,” he said.

Youngkin also railed against Virginia Democrats’ pledge to move forward with mid-cycle redistricting in response to the White House’s nationwide redistricting push, reminding his constituents that more than two-thirds of voters approved a statewide referendum five years ago creating an independent redistricting commission.

“I think what they’re doing is illegal and it’s unconstitutional,” Youngkin said, demurring on a question about whether he thinks Virginia Democrats’ efforts are evidence that the GOP’s mid-cycle redistricting plan is backfiring. “I’m hopeful that that’s exactly what we’ll see in the court system, and this will be stopped.”