RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) addressed the General Assembly on Monday afternoon to lay out his priorities for this year’s legislative session.
The speech comes two days after he was inaugurated, promising to work for all Virginians and seek unity during a time of division. But Youngkin also made clear he believes he has a conservative mandate to reverse course on the liberal agenda Democrats enacted over the past two years, when that party held majorities in the legislature and the Executive Mansion.
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To do so, he’ll have to work with a divided General Assembly, where Republicans control the House of Delegates and Democrats the state Senate.
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“Today we begin anew, all of us together,” Youngkin said, in remarks prepared for delivery. “After years of fractured politics, a deadly pandemic, lives and livelihoods lost, soaring mental health incidents and drug overdoses, rising crime rates, ever-increasing costs for housing, food and fuel, Virginians have sent us here to turn the page.”
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Describing a state economy that he said has been stymied by slow growth and a people beset by rising crime, Youngkin said that “the state of our commonwealth is not what it should be.” Youngkin said he has worked on 59 pieces of legislation and 25 budget amendments to enact his plan to cut taxes, slash regulations and strengthen law enforcement, calling on Republicans and Democrats to come together to get them passed.
Youngkin also encouraged Virginians to get vaccinated against the coronavirus but vowed to fight President Biden’s mandates. Even before Youngkin addressed lawmakers, Democrats spoke out against several executive actions he took Saturday shortly after being sworn in.
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Del. Delores L. McQuinn (D-Richmond), a senior member of the Black Caucus, said Youngkin’s order aimed at banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools was an affront to the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday was honored with Monday’s holiday.
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The ban was part of “a coordinated campaign to intimidate teachers [and] school board members and prevent … teachers from teaching a complete accurate history of our nation. In other words, teaching the truth,” McQuinn said during a speech on the floor of the House.
Critical race theory is an intellectual movement that examines the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism that has never been part of the state’s public school curriculum, but became a culture war issue raised by conservatives in last year’s political campaigns.
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In the past year, 32 states “have introduced bills to limit how teachers discuss racism and sexism,” said Del. Charniele L. Herring (D-Alexandria). “This includes 13 which have enacted some kind of restrictions on teachers in classrooms.”
In addition, she noted, former president Donald Trump issued an order in 2020 banning diversity training at federal agencies. “And now it seems that Virginia may be on the same path,” she said.
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Del. Schuyler T. VanValkenburg (D-Henrico), a high school civics teacher, said he applauded Youngkin’s determination to keep public schools open five days a week during the coronavirus pandemic. But an executive action allowing parents to opt out of mask mandates, he said, works against that goal.
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Kids or teachers who get sick won’t be able to come in and learn, he said.
“If our goal is to keep kids in classrooms and to make sure kids are learning, I would hope we would just do anything we can to make that happen,” VanValkenburg said. “We’re doing the opposite of that right in the middle of the omicron wave.”
But there were glimmers of bipartisanship Monday. Democratic Sen. Chap Petersen (Fairfax City) and Republican Del. Lee Ware (Powhatan) held a joint news conference to propose legislation that would ban public utility companies from making political donations.
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The measure — versions of which they have introduced before — is aimed largely at Dominion Energy, the state’s biggest utility and a regulated monopoly. Dominion is also one of the most generous campaign contributors to members of both parties and wields enormous clout in the lawmaking process.
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Ware and Petersen both said they had spoken with the new administration and are optimistic that Youngkin might support their bill. “I think it’s fair to say he sees some affinity … with this legislation,” Ware said.
“We need the new governor to speak out on this issue,” Petersen said.
There were also indications of bipartisanship in the Senate for Lt. Gov. Winsome E. Sears (R), the first woman of color to hold statewide office in Virginia. Sears brought down the gavel three times shortly after noon.
In the gallery to observe the historic moment were her husband and daughter, Terence and Janel Sears, and one of Sears’s ticketmates: Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R), the first Latino to hold statewide office. Sears is a Jamaican immigrant and Miyares’s mother fled Cuba as a teen.
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Senators from both parties said they were happily adjusting to addressing “Madame president” rather than “Mr. president,” as had been the case since the state Senate was established (years behind the 403-year-old House) in 1776.
Despite the bipartisan well-wishes, there were sharp floor speeches. Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi (D-Chesterfield), who was born in India, welcomed Sears as a fellow immigrant and example of the state’s growing diversity — but also said she was “immensely disappointed” that Youngkin, in one of his first acts in office, removed the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion section of the Virginia governor’s website.
“I do ask, what does it signal?” Hashmi said. “What was the urgency?”
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Youngkin made the rounds to closed-door caucus meetings in the Capitol — for both chambers and both parties — before the House and Senate sessions got underway. Cheers could be heard from the hallway each time he entered. As he waited to enter the caucus rooms, Youngkin greeted the few people he encountered in the unusually empty marble hallways, including the woman working the metal detector at the Capitol’s west entrance.
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“My name’s Glenn Youngkin,” he told her. “What’s your first name?”
Youngkin’s appearance at the General Assembly coincided with not only the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday but also Lobby Day, when Virginia residents who have the day off from work are encouraged to visit their legislators and advocate for causes.
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Pro-gun advocates usually dominate, but Monday’s event was notably quieter than recent years. In 2020, thousands of armed advocates from around the country converged on Richmond on Lobby Day to protest Democrats’ efforts to pass gun control.
Last year, after Democrats passed laws to limit weapons on Capitol Square, gun-rights organizers staged a drive-through protest, with several caravans parading through city streets.
On Monday, members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League — the primary organizer of the pro-gun events — showed up in modest numbers. Those who visited with lawmakers were unarmed and mostly wearing business attire; only a few small groups of rifle-wielding, combat gear-wearing advocates gathered across Main Street from the General Assembly’s office building.
Richmond police were out in large numbers for several blocks around the Capitol, but all seemed quiet. Overhead, an airplane pulled a banner that said: “Repeal all gun control — VCDL.org.”