Joining us now to discuss, Governor
of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin. Governor Youngkin,
let's start with Virginia itself. I would probably call it a third tier
battleground state. It's usually not up there, but the polling
I have seen suggests that it is pretty much a margin of error. Race right now with Biden having the edge, but but not the ten point lead
that he won. You have much better, I'm guessing private polling as the governor. Where do you see the race right now
in Virginia? Jake, first of all,
thank you for having me in. If I could, I just want to thank
all of our veterans and military heroes. Today, we honor and revere
those that lost their lives on D-Day and changed the course of history. And so thank you to all of our military
heroes. Listen, with regard to the 2024
election and Virginia, it is pretty stunning that in 2020
we saw Joe Biden win by ten points. And I was fortunate enough,
I think, to win by two. But now we see Virginia very tight
and it's early days. Of course, we still got five months to go. But I think it reflects
the fact that Americans and Virginians are ready for strong leadership
back in the White House. And that strength is projected
not only an economic strength, its its national security strength, it's
that its energy policy strength, it's a secure border. It's an America
that we know needs to be strong. And what they've seen from Joe
Biden has been weakness. And I think America and Virginia
is ready to really give President Trump the White House back. The president was convicted of 34 felony charges. Last week,
you issued a statement criticizing the conviction. Why? Why did you do that? Well, I think it's very clear to Americans that this has been
a very much a political effort. So in all of the parties involved have made it very clear
that they wanted to get Trump. And therefore,
I think Americans understand that. And the reality,
of course, is with the election just five months away,
it's a chance for Virginians and Americans to really express their view
and who they want to be our president. And as I said, I think when it comes to putting strength
back into the White House, I think that Americans are tired of a weak
Joe Biden. They're tired of a weak economy. They're tired of weak national security. They're tired of seeing a porous border. And and even the actions this week from President
Biden are are too little, too late. We've seen in almost the state of Virginia come
across the border in the last three years, and we're all seeing every single state
become a border state. And we have we've seen sexual assaults
of young women by illegal immigrants. We've seen illegal immigrants
try to crash the gates at Quantico and we've seen fentanyl
fly over the border and killing five Virginians a day on average. I think Americans are ready, ready
to put leadership back in the White House. Are you worried at all that the felony
convictions will have an impact on turning off the independents and moderate Republicans that voted
that that might be up for grabs, that some of them voted for you
and that's how you won. There are these middle of the road voters and they might have been turned
off by this guilty verdict. Well, at least all of the polling
that I've seen and Jake, you've seen it as well, is that
the jerseys are on pretty tight right now. I think there's been some clear
decisions made by a huge number of voters. There's not that many that are undecided. And I do believe that it is based on
the merit of the candidates. And and therefore, you know,
I think, again, as the issues get to get discussed and debated
between now and November 5th, there'll be a clear difference between
President Trump and President Biden. And as I said, I think Americans and Virginians are ready
for strength back in the White House. How do you interpret the vote in the Republican primary
in Virginia for Nikki Haley
just the day before she dropped out? Virginia had its primary. 35% of Virginia Republicans voted for her. She still continues to get 10%, sometimes 20%, months
after she dropped out of the race. Are you worried at all about those voters
sending a message that that they're not on board with Trump
and they might end up with Biden? Well, I believe that the Republican Party is coming together. I was just down at the Virginia
Republican Party convention this past weekend, and I saw delegates
from all over the commonwealth come together
and universally put down differences and start working
together to win elections. And I think that's what's happening
all across the nation. I also believe that
there are large numbers of independents who will, in fact choose
Donald Trump over Joe Biden. And then finally, and I think
this is really important in Virginia, we have seen real success from common sense policies, literally growing jobs and standing up for law enforcement and
and standing for excellence in education. And we're seeing just tremendous results. And Virginians are now saying, wait
a minute, commonsense has a place I like. I like strong leadership
and I'm going to vote for Donald Trump. And I think this is what we're going
to see. All during the fall,
particularly as the records of the two administrations are placed
right next door to one another. And we can't we can't forget the fact that that Trump
did build a rip roaring economy. And it's the number one issue across voters right
now, as is concerns about the economy. The second issue,
of course, is concerns about the border and these are two issues
that I think Virginians and Americans are absolutely going
to go with President Trump on. I want to get to two things
that happened yesterday. First, all but two Senate Republicans
voted against solidifying a nationwide right
to contraception. If Republicans win the White House
and take control of the Senate, which they have a decent chance
of doing and retain control of the U.S. House, should voters expect contraception
to be at risk as the right to abortion is at risk? Yeah, I believe this was very much a publicity vote
and not one based on real policy. And I, I believe firmly in the right
to access to contraception. I also believe that we need
to protect our First Amendment rights. And in Virginia,
we had a very similar circumstance. And I, in fact, sent a bill to our General
Assembly that would have protected access to contraception and protected
people's First Amendment rights. And the reality is, I don't think
Democrats really want a bill. They don't really want to make policy. They just want to have talking points. And I think that's
what happened in the Senate yesterday. Again, I am I'm firmly supportive
of a woman's access to contraception. I did I did pledge to support
and defend the Constitution. And we can do both of these. You know, Jake, in Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act,
that's exactly what happened. It was right to contraception. And of course, there was protections
for First Amendment religious protections. We can do both. There's no reason
why we have to try to divide America. Let's bring them together
on this topic versus divide them. Also yesterday, we reported on how 2023
shattered heat records and will likely be going forward a terrifying baseline
for years to come, described by U.N. official as a highway to hell. We witness, obviously extreme fires and droughts and floods
and storms across the globe. Virginia is not immune to this, of course. Yesterday, however, you you said you're going to withdraw Virginia
from participating in California's emission standards aimed to limit
what's fueling the warming. You said that the move was about
celebrating freedom. I understand wanting to have Virginia's
own policy, not California's. But what are you going to do
about climate change in your state? It I mean, Virginia is not a particular problem compared to the rest of the world
in India and China. But certainly you want to leave the world in a better place than it is right now
when it comes to climate change. No. Well, Jake, to be really
clear on this one, because I think it's very important,
the decision that we made yesterday was to no longer
be subjected to the California mandates on which car you can buy. And in fact, we are able now to choose to
to to be subject to the federal mandates
and the federal guidelines on emissions. Virginia, plus 37 other states are now subjected
to the federal guidelines. And we made a decision
that one, having California with unelected bureaucrats mandate
which car people can buy was wrong. But we also made a decision to protect
people's pocketbooks and to give them the benefit of choosing which car
they think is best for their needs. And Jake,
the math here is really straightforward. It's really straightforward. EVs cost
anywhere between 10,000 and $50,000 more than the comparison internal gas combustion engine. And to force people and that's
what the California standards would do. 35% of cars
would have to be electric vehicles. And in Virginia right now,
it's about 9% of cars are being purchased. That's that's upwards of $1.2 billion of economic penalty
being placed on Virginians. And let me just make it clear, this is not
a condemnation of electric vehicles. If you want to buy an electric vehicle,
please do. And if you want to buy a hybrid,
please do. And in fact, now that we'll be subject
to the federal guidelines, innovation
will have to take hold in order to drive much, much more stringent
fuel economy standards. And I think America is up for this. The reality is
that mandates are misguided. Let's trust innovation and let's put
let's put that trust in the American consumer as opposed to mandating
what people can and can't buy. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin
in Virginia, Good to see you, sir. Thanks so much.
