Youngkin embraces a softer ‘parental rights’ message
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has a lot at stake with the potential for his party to win control over both chambers of the state’s General Assembly in November and the growing chorus high profile GOP donors urging him to run for president.
Appearing before a crowd of Republican voters last month in Salem, Va., alongside state Sen. David Suetterlein (R-Roanoke), the governor was flanked by a huge sign that read, “Parents Matter,” a message that Youngkin’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign had used to fire up conservative Virginians concerned about education policies, including LGBTQ matters.
However, the Washington Post notes that while “parental rights” arguments were previously focused on opposition to pro-LGBTQ policies, pandemic mask mandates, and the teaching of critical race theory in Virginia schools, “this year’s edition is decidedly more middle-of-the-road.” During campaign events for GOP state legislature candidates in battleground districts across the state, Youngkin has been “treading carefully around the red meat occasionally served up by his audiences,” steering “comments back toward the catchall idea of parents being involved in their kids’ lives,” the Post reports.
For instance, during last month’s event with Suetterlein, a member of the audience said her daughter had been “brainwashed” on social media into believing it possible for someone to be both gay and a Christian, which Youngkin addressed by urging parents to “be engaged” in their kids’ lives and educate them on the dangers of social media.
