Republicans retool their 'parents' rights' playbook for the Virginia governor's race
After Glenn Youngkin ran successfully on education and cultural issues four years ago, the GOP is hoping to expand the message ahead of a key 2025 election.
Republicans managed to flip the Virginia governorship in 2021 largely on an education platform, focusing on parents’ concerns over peak-pandemic public school closings and race-based curricula.
Four years later, the party is aiming to retool its “parents’ rights” campaign in its bid to hold on to the office in the blue-leaning state in a post-Covid era.
Republicans in recent years have sought to expand their education and cultural playbook in Virginia and around the country. While Republicans once zeroed in on critical race theory, the target is now diversity, equity and inclusion policies. And they’ve broadened their focus to preventing transgender students from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
This fall’s governor’s race, which both parties will look to as a bellwether of the broader political environment, will provide a major test of the message’s staying power.
“It will be a big part of their campaign, just as it was in 2021,” said Virginia-based Republican strategist Zack Roday. “It first nicely into the ‘common-sense arguments.’ It fits nice in there with ‘kitchen-table issues.’”
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