Virginias Democrats show us how to wreck a state in 5 easy steps

Political pros have a saying about how our two parties handle defeat and victory.When Republicans lose, the pundits say, they fear they’ll never win again; when Democrats win, they govern as though they’ll never have to win again.Virginia offers proof of the maxim. As Virginia’s Republican attorney general from 2022 to 2026, I worked alongside Gov.Glenn Youngkin to rebuild a state in disrepair. When we took office, Virginia ranked 46th out of 50 in post-COVID job creation.Our schools were among the last in the country to reopen.The murder rate had reached a 20-year high, and fentanyl overdose deaths hit new records. People and businesses were voting with their feet: For the first time in a century, Virginia experienced eight consecutive years of net population loss. Commonsense conservative ideas and leadership changed the trajectory.Under Youngkin, Virginia climbed from the bottom tier of job creation to the top five. Smart fiscal discipline produced budget surpluses every year, even while delivering more than $9 billion in tax relief.Over $156 billion in new business investment flowed into the commonwealth, more than under the previous six governors combined.The murder rate fell, and Virginia led the nation in reducing drug overdose deaths because we chose to work with law enforcement rather than against it.Some dubbed it the “Virginia Renaissance.” Virginia Democrats have rejected that Renaissance.In doing so, Gov.

Abigail Spanberger has managed to become one of the least popular governors in modern state history after a little more than half a year in office.All it took was five easy steps. Virginia Democrats have proposed more than $37 billion in new taxes in 2026, one analysis found — despite the budget surplus that Youngkin’s policies left them.Democrats in Richmond have enacted a sweeping payroll tax and a carbon tax, and their new regulatory burdens have increased the effective cost of hiring in...