Glenn Youngkin To Be Sworn In As Virginia's 74th Governor

RICHMOND, VA — Glenn Youngkin, a former executive with the Carlyle Group, will be sworn into office on Saturday as the 74th governor of Virginia and will be the first Republican to serve as governor since Robert McDonnell left office in January 2014.

Youngkin, a political newcomer who has never held public office, has said he wants to lower taxes, expand charter schools and provide greater funding of police agencies. He is also anti-abortion and has vowed to roll back gun-control laws.

At the beginning of his campaign, he focused on "election integrity," an issue that supporters of former President Donald Trump embraced after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

Toward the end of his campaign for governor, Youngkin focused on getting books out of public school libraries that some parents found offensive and campaigned against the teaching of critical race theory, an intellectual movement that is not part of Virginia’s school curriculum but has become a general term among conservatives to describe diversity initiatives and the teaching of the history of racism in public schools.

Youngkin told WJLA that on his first day in office he plans to rescind an executive order that requires all students in K-12 schools to wear masks in Virginia schools.

The highest profile nominee to Youngkin's administration is Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Youngkin has nominated Wheeler as his secretary of natural resources.

Youngkin's chief of staff, Jeff Goettman, worked in the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the Trump administration before becoming chief operating officer of Youngkin's campaign for governor, Insider reported Thursday. Youngkin's deputy chief of staff and communications director, Rebecca Glover, served as director of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Trump administration.

On Thursday, Youngkin named Jillian Balow, formerly Wyoming’s elected superintendent of public instruction, as head of public instruction for Virginia. While in her position in Wyoming, Balow endorsed a bill that one of its sponsors described as an effort to prevent “the indoctrination found in the critical race theory curriculum that has been pushed by the far-left and has found its way into some classrooms,” according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Elizabeth Schultz, a former Fairfax School Board member, was appointed on Thursday as Virginia’s assistant superintendent of public instruction. Schultz served as a senior fellow for Parents Defending Education, a national organization formed to “reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas," the Virginia Mercury reported.

“Jillian and Elizabeth are going to be crucial in helping Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera restore excellence in education. Under my direction, they will get to work on ensuring our schools remain safely open, ban critical race theory and political agendas from our classrooms, and rebuild our crumbling schools,” Youngkin said in a news release Thursday.

Schultz's appointment received strong criticism from groups hoping to keep politics out of public school curriculums.

"In another warning signal that Governor-elect Youngkin is embracing an extreme GOP agenda, he has appointed right-wing zealot Elizabeth Schultz as Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction," Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chair Bryan Graham said in a statement Thursday. "She was an unhinged school board member with an anti-student agenda, who actively worked against student protections and services, and who has made troubling comments regarding history curriculums."

Gov. Ralph Northam, like all Virginia governors, was prohibited by the state constitution from seeking back-to-back terms. On Tuesday, Northam attended the unveiling of his official portrait. Painted by artist Stanley Rayfield, who is from Richmond, the portrait depicts Northam standing in his wood-paneled office at the executive mansion.

Youngkin defeated Terry McAuliffe in the November governor’s election. McAuliffe, a Democrat, served as Virginia’s 72nd governor from 2014 to 2018.

“The theme for inauguration weekend celebrates Virginia’s spirit — one linked to a rich history, but an even more exciting future as Virginians come together to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” Youngkin and his wife, Suzanne, said in a statement about inauguration day.

As the former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, the governor-elect has an estimated fortune of $300 million.

In the Virginia General Assembly, Republican reclaimed control of the House of Delegates, while Democrats retained control of the Senate.

During the 2022 legislative session, Republicans are hoping to roll back many of the bills that Democrats passed in the past two years. The GOP bills would prohibit local governments from banning firearms from parks and government buildings; cancel a minimum wage hike — from $11 an hour to $12 — that is scheduled to take effect in 2023; require women seeking an abortion to sign a written consent; and cut the early-voting period from 45 days to 14 days.

On Saturday, Youngkin will be sworn in at noon outside the Virginia State Capitol. The swearing-in ceremony is open to the public. Also on Saturday, Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares will be sworn into office.

An inaugural parade will take place following the swearing-in ceremony at 1:20 p.m. Parade participants will march through Capitol Square.

Youngkin will open the doors of the executive mansion for an open house on Sunday, which will be open to the public. The time of the open house on Sunday has yet to be released.

The inauguration will be livestreamed on the Youngkin inauguration website.

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