The bizarre scandal that threatens the Youngkin heritage

It was a warm, sunny day in Central Virginia in March when Governor Glenn Youngkin and his wife, First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin, made a ceremonial trip to the Colonial Downs racing route in New Kent, Virginia. The couple was cut there for a kind of ligaments because the annual run of the Virginia Derby became a leading event in the qualification series that feeds the Kentucky Derby. The Youngkins and especially Suzanne, who managed a small horse facility in North Virginia, had hard to establish the Virginia derby as a springboard to Kentucky, and the duo arrived in its best spring best.

The crowd that day gathered around the governor and his wife when they made their way to the box seats near the racetrack. One by one after the other, people of all forms and sizes were patient for a picture with the couple and the Youngkins. It was a big day for the governor and his wife and another content for the culture and economy of Virginia under Youngkin's administration. But in the long shadows on this spring day it lurked a scandal that reversed Youngkin's inheritance and perhaps torpedo his ambitions in the national scene.

Youngkin is the guy that you would expect in the modern era to be a Republican governor in Virginia. The former Co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, a global investment company, the Youngkin businessman Aura played well for the suburban torque types between Richmond and Washington, DC corridor, which acts as the most important demographic decision-maker in the nationwide elections in Virginia. Youngkin also looked the part: well -pressed suits and his social mannerisms. His remarkable height contributed to consolidating it, if only visually, as a determined option in the event of a choice that took place in Covid's Turigster season.

The Republicans won this choice to an apparently paradoxical message of change and stability. Then-Gov. The Democrat of Ralph Northam had made his side without favors when his loose language on the subject of abortion was obtained many Virginians about the rights of newborn babies. There were also severe concerns that a democratic governor would progress with vaccine and mask mandates. And maybe the most decisive in retrospect, Terry McCaullife, the democratic candidate, told the parents that their opinions are not welcome, what would be supposed to be, be Schools.

The glove fits perfectly for Youngkin and his RAG-TAG team from Maga Misfits. The businessman would insure the Acela corridor near the corridor and its sub-card a black migration marine, semi-automatic weapons and a young, Hispanic legislature, the Maga coalition assures that this was not business in the big old party as usual. The strange but effective ticket worked in 2021 as Virginia voter for Youngkin, Lt. Governor won Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Everything was red in November. A breathtaking republican victory at the climax of the Covid pandemonium and one that proved to be a fusion of new Maga and Alter GOP could achieve impressive results. By September 2024, Youngkins recorded 57 percent and conquered one of his highest polling stations at a time when the then candidate Donald Trump was Harri's neck. Among the independent, the number of Youngkin was even higher at 62 percent. There was widespread speculation that Youngkin on Trump's VP short list with some suggestions was that Youngkin could even look the oval office itself in due course. But last September it seems to be a long time ago. Youngkin suddenly faces the biggest test of his four years for Virginia: a cross-party political war that broke out last month and threatens his image as a polished dealmaker who can attract the support of MAGA law.

The scandal, who often does the reputation of Youngkin, appeared in the worst time for Republicans in Virginia. Earle-Sears, now the Republican governor candidate, was far behind her democratic rival Abigail Spanberger than the bad news falling. John Reid, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, a former moderator of the talk show, who is popular by the Maga coalition, asked privately to leave Youngkin's race after opposition research had found a blog that was supposedly connected to Reid, the pictures of naked men. Reid denies the report and proposed someone else with his Instagram handle to publish naked photos of “other men and other models” to sabotage his campaign.

The private conversation that should stay between Youngkin and Reid did not do it. Reid immediately went to Twitter, where he published a five -minute diatribe against Youngkin and the State Gop. In the video Reid explains that he is a gay man that he saw pornography and that he took part in one-night stands. Soon afterwards, Reid circulated pictures of a drag show on the Internet. The former talk show presenter defended his presence on a drag show and vehemently protested the attempts to strict him out of the race. “Drag is not for children, but who really takes care of what adults are watching or what they are doing in a restaurant, bar or club,” said Reid.

Reid accused the political strategist of Youngkin, Matt Moran, to blackmail him when Reid refused to get out of the race. Moran, head of Youngkins Pac, Spirit of Virginia, resigned from his post in the middle of the Fallout. “This extortion and the smear were ridiculous and I refused to step down, and I decided not to tell the press or the public,” said Reid defiantly.

And then something pretty interesting happened: the conservative basis in Virginia, which has long been stereotyped as Luddite Fundamentalists who screamed at the LGTBQ idiotion of America, gathered on Reid's side. “It's five to one,” said John Fredericks, the steady conservative talk show presenter, whose program can be heard on Virginia Airwaves every day. “[Voters] I want Reid to stay in the race. They believe that the establishment tries to fool it. Who takes care of penises on Tumblr? Nobody takes care of it. “

Fredericks' open entry speaks for the radical new formation of the conservative coalition under Trump, both in Virginia and across the country. The same political arm that has struggled bitterly against progressive social issues is now with the defense of a socially progressive gay man who mocks the GOP establishment. Although Reid's support from the Maga base should surprise a marriage of strange contradictions for no one who has followed the arch of the Boomer right in the past decade. Trump, who was criticized by his critics as anti-LGBTQ, is largely misunderstood by the people who don't like him. The 47th President has repeatedly made his support for LGBTQ people clear during his two administrations. Trump has largely agreed to its base outside of voices in the dissident ball.

“Trump broke the Protestant stuff,” Virginia, a campaign company in Richmond, told Puck News. “The base managed to stop by via purity tests and to say: Hey, we can choose a real son of a bitch and do things! There is purity and profit. And they are both drugs, but one of them is much addicted. “

Since the surveys in November continue to suggest a blue wave in Virginia, the Reidkandal, which devours the GOP policy in Virginia, has made a probably disappointing election season a decisive conversation about the new politician rights. The assumptions about the Make -up of the Maga coalition fall on deaf ears, since the most coherent conservative voices in the region creeps up the cars for Reid and drastic attacks on the “establishment” of the Youngkin in response to his attempts to relieve the first gay person to run for the national term.

The support for Reid on the city of Richmond in Richmond and could not be more pronounced. In addition to Yard signs that still stand for Trump, Reid Signs are also signs. However, what you will not see are signs of Earle-Sears that run the ticket and was unpleasant throughout the Reid scandal. Earle-Sears, pressure to speak, finally posted what can only be characterized as a soft support for Reid together with a Bible quotation.

“It is [Reid’s] Race and his decision alone to go forward, ”explained Earlesears.

Ironically, Earle-Sears noticed whether she knew it or not, the reality of the breed of the governor of Virginia 2025: Spanberger seems to be a shoe of less than six months before the election day, and Earle-Sears is anything but a subsequent thought. All eyes are firmly directed to Reid, the talky show host that Maga made her champion with a scandal. What a strange series of circumstances would it be if Reid could somehow find a close way to victory against the wishes of the GOP establishment. With his toughest days and nights behind him, only the election campaign path is waiting.

And Youngkin? How will he be remembered when everything is said and done? When the mild tempered statesman, who steered Virginia through one of his most chaotic eras or as a Benedikt-Arnold, tried to overthrow the will of his people after taking up her reputation? All characters probably indicate the latter. It is one that would prevent the 58-year-old from pursuing a higher position in the time of Maga rule. In the age of anti-establishment policy, Youngkin is suddenly in view. His legacy will probably reflect this in the coming years.