RICHMOND — Moments after his successor was sworn into office here last weekend, now-former governor Glenn Youngkin and his wife, Suzanne, rose from their seats and climbed back up the steps of the state Capitol. With the National Guard booming a 19-gun salute to new Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Youngkin’s ceremonial departure was steeped in tradition, though his administration was not.
He was a Republican elected four years ago in a state long trending blue. He was a business tycoon with no political experience who brought outsiders and consultants to a sometimes-insular capital city. In a proud old state that reveres a pantheon of governors including Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, Youngkin made no secret from day one that he had ambitions beyond Virginia.
So as he disappeared into the Capitol door, his reputation burnished on national conservative media and in the halls of President Donald Trump’s White House, it was fair to wonder where Youngkin’s legacy as governor will take him next.
The immediate answer: someplace sunny.
“We will bring lots of suntan lotion,” Youngkin said in an interview with The Washington Post as his time in office was winding down. His wife of 31 years, he said, deserved a vacation to get away from the demands of public life.
Beyond that, he wasn’t saying.
Youngkin — who like all Virginia governors is prohibited by the state constitution from seeking a consecutive second term — left office with uncertain political prospects. He remained popular in voter polls and has honed a narrative about his accomplishments that appeals to conservative audiences. As he tells it, he was called by God to run for governor, then rescued the state from liberal Democrats, passed tax cuts and wooed billions in outside investment and jobs. Along the way he led culture-war crusades targeting transgender youths, diversity programs and undocumented immigrants.
But he also failed to persuade Democratic lawmakers to enable some of his biggest objectives — such as a sports arena in Alexandria — and couldn’t transfer his political magic to a Republican successor or anyone else. The tightrope he once walked with Trump — politely praising him while still wooing suburban moderates — has given way to full embrace of a president who is unpopular in Virginia.
At 59, Youngkin could have many political years ahead of him. As a multimillionaire, he has ample resources for almost anything he wants to do. He has consistently deflected questions about his presidential ambitions, even during periods when he actively floated the idea to national donorsor spoke in early primary states.
“There’s a lot of folks in this position who spend an enormous amount of time trying to figure out what’s next. And I am not one of those folks,” Youngkin said in the interview, noting that his family is “blessed” to not have to worry about income. “That gives me the real capacity to finish and not worry about what’s next.”
When an interviewer on “Fox News Sunday” tried to pin Youngkin down this month, the governor would not directly comment about his own plans but suggested he would support Vice President JD Vance for president in 2028. “I agree with President Trump, I agree with Marco Rubio — I think Vice President Vance would be a great nominee,” Youngkin said.
Asked by The Post whether he would serve as Vance’s running mate, Youngkin sidestepped: “I am not going to speculate on anything,” he said.
It might be that Youngkin has a tough time answering questions about his political future because his path forward is truly unclear, said Amy Walter, editor in chief of the Cook Political Report.
Many Virginia governors have moved on to the U.S. Senate, she noted — Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner now; George Allen and Chuck Robb before them. That’s not realistic for Youngkin in the current climate, Walter said, as Virginia voters lean heavily Democratic for federal offices.
And for president? “That’s where things, to me, get a little blurrier,” Walter said.
Among Trump supporters, Vance and possibly Rubio, the secretary of state, are the clear current favorites for 2028, she said. If MAGA were to fall out of favor by then, Youngkin could conceivably make a run — depending on how close to Trump he positions himself over the next couple of years in what is likely to be a crowded field, she said.
That dynamic could make it tricky for Youngkin to weigh any potential offer to join the Trump administration, Walter added, which has been the subject of speculation since last summer when Trump told a reporter he “could consider” naming Youngkin as his running mate.
When Youngkin ran for governor in 2021, he avoided appearing in public with Trump as he wooed suburban moderates. He was the friendly tycoon next door, wearing red zip-up vests and popularizing a parental rights agenda that focused on culture-war issues in education and influenced Republican campaigns around the country. But now he has fully embraced MAGA — and disputes the idea that he ever held Trump at arm’s length.
“This is one of these, I think, false premises that there is any shift in my philosophy,” Youngkin said. When he first ran for office, he pointed out, he said he was inspired by Trump’s example as a businessman who shifted into politics. Youngkin said he spent much of his term battling “bad policies” out of the administration of President Joe Biden and a “demented desire” among those on the left for Virginia to fail.
Once Trump returned to office, the White House was a “turbo booster” for Virginia’s economy, he said. Youngkin credits Trump’s “America first” policies for helping him woo manufacturers to the state, and said his relationship with the president has had additional benefits, such as allowing Virginia to land the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will move to Alexandria.
On the other hand, Virginia was the only state whose unemployment rate rose for seven straight months in 2025 (though at 3.5 percent, it’s still below the national average), and the state lost its coveted “top state for business” ranking from CNBC.
Youngkin has defended Trump’s actionsto fire thousands of federal workers in Virginia, arguing that there are enough new jobs in the state to make up for the losses, though he has acknowledged the pain it caused.
Youngkin conceded that his own style is different from Trump’s rough-hewn bluster. “Just because you have similar philosophies in areas doesn’t mean you behave the same way,” he said. “And he and I have laughed about this. He always says, ‘You’re really nice, Glenn.’ It’s just the way I was raised. It’s the way I am. … We just have different styles of executing.”
Even one of Youngkin’s staunchest political adversaries — Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) — said the former governor’s manner is an asset. “I think people like him, but he’s wrong with the issues,” Scott said, pointing out that Youngkin was unable to hold onto a Republican majority in the House of Delegates in 2023 elections and last year saw his chosen successor as governor — then-Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) — lose in a blowout election in which Democrats expanded their House majority.
Despite his affable demeanor, Youngkin could be provocative in ways unusual for a Virginia governor and that echoed Trump: blaming his predecessor for perceived failings; attacking regions of his own state — such as Northern Virginia, where his own home is located — for misguided leadership; and portraying Virginia itself as a dumpster fire before he arrived to fix it.
When it came time in 2024 to persuade the General Assembly to approve a project that would have been his most glittering legacy — the proposed Monumental Sports arena that would have brought the Wizards and Capitals to Alexandria’s Potomac Yard — Youngkin failed to win approvalfrom Democratic lawmakers who controlled the process. While figures such as the powerful state Sen. L. Louis Lucas (D-Portsmouth) were gleeful at depriving Youngkin of a win, the governor was widely faulted for not doing enough to broker deals and woo lawmaker support.
“He failed because of his lack of knowledge and lack of relationships with the legislature,” said David Ramadan, a former Republican delegate who has been critical of Youngkin. “That was probably the biggest mistake of his gubernatorial term.”
Youngkin also leaves behind a fractured state GOP, which engaged in finger-pointingafter last year’s electoral blowout. Trump’s U.S. DOGE Service cuts to the federal workforce and the late-year government shutdown generated enormous headwinds for Republicans in Virginia in 2025, but some in the party blamed leadership for the magnitude of the losses.
“This is Youngkin’s legacy,” Virginia Beach Republican committee member Waverly Woods said, accusing the governor of aggravating internal divisions with the party in Hampton Roads.
But Youngkin is revered by many state Republicans for reviving a GOP that had been on the ropes as Virginia shifted blue and bringing a fresh spirit to the governor’s mansion.
“He’s a unique political person, I think one of the few politicians in America for the right who can bridge the divisions in the Republican Party, which are going to become very broad” as Trump’s term winds down, said Chris Saxman, a former Republican state delegate who runs a business trade organization.
“He’s definitely brought a change as far as the business environment of the state,” said longtime Republican operative Jeff Ryer, who praised Youngkin for cutting regulations and using his acumen as a former chief executive to woo industry. Ryer said the fact that Youngkin has no obvious next step “is a good argument for ending the single-term governorship” and letting him run again.
In the meantime, Youngkin is widely considered a top candidate to join the Trump administration, should the president move to shake up his Cabinet. Two people close to Youngkin who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations said he is not interested in taking on the Department of Homeland Security — a persistent rumor in D.C. — but that other posts could be attractive.
Youngkin was prominent all last year in the Trump orbit. He toured hurricane-damaged regions with Vance, announced immigrant detentions with Attorney General Pam Bondi and even made an economic development announcement from the Oval Office.
About a week before his term ended, Youngkin held a rally in the city of Petersburg to wrap up a series of policy initiatives there in which he has been particularly personally involved. This time he had guests: federal Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Adm. Brian Christine. It was time, Youngkin said, to “pass the baton” to another level of government.
Would Youngkin himself soon make such a transition? In the interview, he suggested that any such discussion would have to wait until after that ceremonial transfer of power.
“The president knows that I’m focused on Virginia,” Youngkin said. “The Cabinet knows that I’m focused on Virginia, and they have respected it. And I deeply appreciate it. I have a tremendous working relationship with this administration.”
correctionA previous version of this article incorrectly said that Glenn Youngkin championed building a sports arena in Arlington. The proposal was for an arena in Alexandria.
The post Youngkin long had ambitions beyond Virginia. What’s next is anyone’s guess. appeared first on Washington Post.
