Government | Politics 2024: GLENN YOUNGKIN

Youngkin’s victory in the 2021 gubernatorial race catapulted the former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group into the national spotlight. Politicos quickly seized on the affable businessman as a potential alternative to Donald Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, a possibility Youngkin neither openly embraced nor disavowed. But any hopes he may have had of a 2024 White House run were dashed by Virginia’s 2023 elections, when Democrats narrowly regained control of the General Assembly.

During his term, Youngkin has emphasized economic development and site development, factors that contributed to Virginia’s record sixth No. 1 ranking in CNBC’s Top States for Business this year. Youngkin’s economic wins have included securing a $1 billion Lego Group factory in Chesterfield County, but his plans for a $2 billion arena for the Washington Capitals and Wizards in Alexandria were quashed by Democrats during the last General Assembly.

While Youngkin previously kept a cautious distance from Trump, a strategy many political commentators say contributed to his 2021 success, he has switched gears this election, appearing with the former president at Trump’s golf club in Sterling and then at a Trump rally in Chesapeake in June. In August, he issued an order requiring paper ballots be used in Virginia’s 2024 presidential election.