RICHMOND, Va. --Speaking on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin delivered the commonwealth’s delegate votes on an energetic convention floor just hours before addressing delegates and supporters Monday night.
“I believe this year, Virginia will elect another outside businessman as the President of the United States,” Youngkin said to a cheering crowd.
While Youngkin, a rising newcomer on the national stage, was considered a potential running mate for Donald Trump, the former president chose JD Vance, a junior Senator from Ohio and the first millennial on a major party presidential ticket. Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, tells the story about his family’s roots in blue-collar Appalachia. His book became a best-seller and blockbuster movie.
While embracing a Trump/Vance ticket, some members of the Virginia delegation, including first-time delegate John Reid, say they had hoped Youngkin would be selected as Trump’s running mate.
“Everyone is excited about it and everybody loves this ticket, but I can’t help, as a hometown guy, I was really rooting for Glenn Youngkin to get the nod,” Reid said.
Reid said Youngkin’s popularity was evident Monday.
“He was mobbed on the floor,” Reid said. “As soon as he finished with his announcement of where the Virginia delegates votes were going, they wanted to get him off the floor. He was clogging up the other delegates moving around, the national press was all over him, you know, people wanted to take his picture and shake his hand.”
Other Virginia delegates who spoke to CBS 6, including Congressional candidate John McGuire and Marcie Clifton, said while they were excited for Virginia’s governor to be on the ticket, they are embracing Vance and hoping Virginia voters will do the same.
A New York Times poll released Monday shows Biden with a three-point lead in Virginia and Trump leading in Pennsylvania by the same margin. CBS 6 political analyst, Dr. Bob Holsworth, said Vance helped secure votes in key battleground states.
“In 2016 against Hillary Clinton, he (Trump) was able to win Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, what had been called the blue wall,” Holsworth says. “Joe Biden reconstructed that wall in 2020 for the democrats but when we look at these early polls, these states are either very close, and in many polls, Donald Trump is ahead.”
Holsworth believes Vance could energize more voters in swing states but says it’s clear that Trump will continue to look for an ally in Youngkin, who spoke passionately Monday night about unifying the country.
“Eight years ago, there was an outsider, a businessman that stepped away from his career to build a great nation, with the strongest economy, the mightiest military, energy independence and unlimited opportunity lifting up every American,” Youngkin said. “That outsider is Donald J. Trump and I believe he’ll do it again!”
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