At roughly this same point four years ago, the prospects of Republican Glenn Youngkin winning Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial race seemed low. Not only did the former Carlyle executive have to grapple with running against a well-known Democrat (former Gov. Terry McAuliffe) in a blue state, but his campaign also lacked any sort of energizing issue to push him over the finish line.
That is, until the parental rights movement came along.
Disenchanted with the unscientific Covid restrictions, left-wing indoctrination, and radical gender policies taking root in their kids’ schools, parents throughout the commonwealth took to school board meetings to voice their frustrations, sparking a nationwide movement devoted to ensuring transparency and accountability in education. Rather than bowing to the whims of the GOP consultant class, Youngkin and other leading Virginia Republican candidates joined the culture war alongside the parents — a decision arguably responsible for their ultimate victories.
Now, four years later, the issues that helped define Virginia’s 2021 elections appear to be taking center stage yet again in the state’s 2025 contests.
Amid the backdrop of the gubernatorial matchup between Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger are several scandals plaguing numerous Northern Virginia public school districts.
In Democrat-run Fairfax County, a bombshell report published earlier this month included damning allegations that staff at Centreville High School arranged and paid for students to get abortions without parental consent. Fairfax County Public Schools has since launched an investigation into the matter, with Youngkin similarly ordering Virginia State Police to conduct a criminal probe of the allegations.
Meanwhile, in Loudoun County, the school district’s “transgender” bathroom policies — which were at the forefront of the commonwealth’s 2021 elections — are once again generating widespread outrage.
As summarized by Fox News, Loudoun County Public School officials suspended two male Stone Bridge High School students “after they were recorded on video questioning why a female student who identifies as male was in the boys[’] locker room.” Five Virginia school districts — including Fairfax and Loudoun — are expected to lose federal funding after refusing to revoke such outrageous policies.
Much like Youngkin at this stage in his 2021 campaign, Earle-Sears’ candidacy for the governor’s mansion has lacked the grassroots excitement needed to win statewide office in a Democrat-leaning state. Voter surveys have regularly shown Spanberger with sizable leads over Earle-Sears, with polling also showing Democrats leading in the races for lieutenant governor and attorney general.
These predictive results shouldn’t be considered a complete surprise. It’s fairly common for the candidates whose party controls the White House to struggle in off-year elections. Such difficulties are even further compounded by the fact that Virginia is a blue state that boasts a significant number of federal workers, whose potential dissatisfaction with the Trump administration’s return-to-work policies could become a notable factor in the election.
With the recent spate of leftist-led controversies engulfing Virginia public schools, however, it seems Earle-Sears and Virginia Republicans may have finally found the issue that could help them overcome the odds this November.
On Wednesday, Earle-Sears joined parents outside of Stone Bridge High School to protest the district’s suspension of the two male students in question. Speaking to attendees, the lieutenant governor said, “It is time for the insanity to stop.”
“It is time for everyone to recognize what is settled truth: Girls are girls, and boys are boys,” Earle-Sears said. “I cannot believe that we are here today having to talk about these things that everybody understands as plain common sense.”
Earle-Sears is also slated to deliver remarks at the Arlington County School Board on Thursday in opposition to the locality’s “transgender” policies — including those allowing trans-identifying men to compete in women’s sports. The Republican gubernatorial candidate previously pledged to sign legislation (if elected) that would mandate girls- and boys-only bathrooms and keep men out of women’s sports.
Unlike Earle-Sears, Spanberger has refused to condemn such radical “trans” policies. As Jacqueline Annis-Levings previously wrote in these pages, “In 2022, [Spanberger] suggested Youngkin’s model policies, which in part attempted to base bathroom use on sex rather than ‘gender identity,’ were ‘shameful,’ and effectively accused him of ‘punch[ing] down’ at children who just want to ‘be themselves in school.’”
“As 7News noted, [Spanberger] voted in favor of boys being allowed to play in girls’ sports in 2023. She also voted against the Parents Bill of Rights Act during her tenure in the House,” Annis-Levings added.
While these parental rights issues present a golden opportunity to underscore Democrats’ extremism and generate GOP enthusiasm, it’s going to fall upon Earle-Sears and Virginia Republicans to harness voters’ outrage to come out on top this fall. Should they fail to do so, the left-wing radicalism that defined the state before Youngkin’s election will come roaring back with a vengeance, and there will be no Republican statewide officials left to stop it.