Glenn Youngkin

Education

Youngkin's education platform was identified as the centerpiece of his campaign by much of the national media, and he sought to mobilize voters on the issue by holding Parents Matter rallies. According to Politico, Youngkin "hung his campaign on education". The New York Times wrote that Youngkin's campaign turned Virginia public schools into "a cultural war zone", and a year after the election, The Washington Post wrote that Youngkin "has leaned into culture wars in K-12 education". Noting his stances on how schools approach race, transgender students, and pandemic policies, the publication wrote that Youngkin "has continued to center those issues in office".

Cultural issues and curriculum

Throughout the campaign, Youngkin spoke against what he characterized as the pervasive teaching of critical race theory in the state. PolitiFact found this characterization of his to be false, saying it found no evidence that critical race theory was part of state curriculum standards and little evidence of it being taught in classrooms. The publication wrote, "Critical race theory is being widely discussed by educators across Virginia. But there's a difference between educators learning about the theory and actually teaching it to students."

The Washington Post identified the Loudoun County school system as "ground zero for Youngkin's victory", citing the widespread activism among parents in the county who opposed progressive school policies. Following two sexual assaults that occurred in Loudoun County schools, Youngkin called for campus police to be stationed at every school in Virginia, and after winning the election, he directed the state's Attorney General, Jason Miyares, to investigate the Loudoun County school system's handling of those assaults. Initially, the perpetrator of the assaults was characterized as gender fluid; although this was later denied by the perpetrator's lawyer, conservative media coverage focused on this aspect of the assaults, and the news story fueled opposition to bathroom policies that had been newly adopted in Virginia to accommodate transgender students. Youngkin's Democratic opponent in the election, Terry McAuliffe, said that the assaults were being exploited during the campaign as "a transphobic dog whistle".

A major subject of opposition among Republicans during the campaign was a state law signed in 2020 by Youngkin's predecessor, Ralph Northam, requiring that all Virginia public schools adopt regulations affirming of transgender students. Youngkin has been critical of these protections. While running for governor, he supported teachers who refused to refer to their students by preferred pronouns and argued against allowing transgender girls to play on girls' sports teams. As governor, he has stated that public school teachers should not conceal information about students from their parents, including their gender identity. His administration has since introduced plans to change the regulations introduced under Northam.

Youngkin's first official action as governor was to sign an executive order banning Virginia schools from teaching critical race theory. The order also bans critical race theory from teacher diversity trainings and any other materials produced by the Virginia Department of Education. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the executive order "targets various initiatives...including the EdEquityVa Initiative, a program aimed at promoting cultural competency in classrooms, higher teacher diversity, and decreasing suspension rates for Black students."

This same executive order cancels the Virginia Mathematics Pathways Initiative, a program that had been developed and proposed by the Northam administration in an effort to both close the racial achievement gap and better equip students with modern job skills. According to The Virginian-Pilot, some critics of the program viewed it as "a dumbing down of standards". Youngkin called the program a "left-wing takeover of public education", and many conservatives claimed that it would have eliminated advanced high school math classes - a claim that Youngkin gave prominence to during his campaign. James Lane, Virginia Superintendent at the time, and NPR, both disputed this characterization of the program. The Virginia Math Pathways Initiative would have prioritized data science and data analytics over calculus while still offering students the opportunity to enroll in calculus at an accelerated pace. Although education officials within the Northam administration explored the potential benefits of detracking students prior to the 11th grade, no plans to do so were ever adopted, and in April 2021, those officials explained that the Virginia Math Pathways Initiative was not designed to eliminate advanced math classes at any grade level. Shortly after Youngkin and other conservatives first began speaking out against the Virginia Math Pathways Initiative, The Washington Post reported that the actual nature of the program had been "obscured...[by] prominent Virginians and copious coverage from right-wing news outlets" as "outrage built online" among those opposed to it.

In early April 2022, Youngkin signed a bill allowing school parents throughout Virginia to review and opt their children out of any educational material containing "sexually explicit content"; any opted out student would be provided with alternative material. At the start of Youngkin's governorship, there were no statewide laws in the nation allowing for parental review of sexually explicit content in school curriculum. Shortly before Youngkin signed the bill, a similar bill was signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Virginia Democrats have criticized the bill signed by Youngkin for taking control over education away from local school systems and have argued that its definition of "sexually explicit content" is "overly broad". The bill passed along mostly party lines. A similar bill, known as the "Beloved Bill", was vetoed by McAuliffe in both 2016 and 2017. That bill, which had originated when a conservative activist took issue with the inclusion of Beloved in her high school senior son's AP English class, became one of the focal points of Virginia's 2021 gubernatorial election, and reviving the bill was identified by The Washington Post as "one of the key promises" of Youngkin's campaign. The provisions of the bill will take effect in 2023.

In May 2022, Youngkin sent a letter to the Council of Presidents overseeing Virginia colleges and universities, urging mandatory political diversity in their hiring practices. That year, he introduced a budget amendment, which succeeded in the General Assembly, requiring that the state's public colleges and universities promote "free speech and diversity of thought on [their] campuses."

In August 2022, Youngkin enlisted the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank, to assist in revising Virginia's educational standards for history and social sciences. In November of that year, the Virginia Department of Education released a proposal for those revisions, which the department stated would make the state's educational standards easier "to understand and implement". The proposal was not adopted by the Virginia Board of Education, after it received what The Washington Post described as "overwhelming pushback from parents, teachers and community members who characterized the new standards as lacking context, being politically motivated and even being 'whitewashed.'" That publication wrote that the proposal "places less emphasis on the perspectives of marginalized peoples, removes suggested discussions of racism and its lingering effects, and promotes the workings of the free market, with limited government intervention".

During the 2022 legislative session, Youngkin advocated for a bill that would have reversed reforms that had been recently adopted to the admissions processes at some Governor's Schools in Virginia, specifically at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria and at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies in Richmond. The reforms that Youngkin wanted to reverse had been adopted to increase racial diversity among the student bodies at those two schools, where Black and Hispanic students had been consistently underrepresented. Although race blind, the reformed admissions processes achieved their goal by implementing an approach largely based on geographic and socioeconomic factors. The bill supported by Youngkin would have banned such an approach, characterizing the use of geographic and socioeconomic factors as "proxy discrimination". This bill passed in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates but failed in the Democratic-controlled State Senate. A separate bill signed by Youngkin that same year bans Governor's Schools in Virginia "from discriminating against any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the process of admitting students to such school." This bill, which received bipartisan support, was described by The Richmond Times-Dispatch as "a watered-down version" of Youngkin's preferred bill. According to WRIC-TV, a Virginia ABC News affiliate, it has been argued that the bill signed by Youngkin "has no legal impact because it largely reiterates existing federal law."

Education budget

Youngkin and McAuliffe both campaigned on increasing the education budget in Virginia, where teacher salaries had perpetually lagged behind the national average. Shortly before leaving office, outgoing governor Ralph Northam proposed increasing Virginia's biennial education budget from $14.8 billion to $17.2 billion, while McAuliffe's platform called for increasing the state's spending on education by $2 billion annually. The two Democrats sought to focus their proposed spending increases on raising teacher salaries, expanding preschool to disadvantaged children, investing more in both STEM programs and ESL services, ensuring internet access for all students, and closing the state's achievement gaps.

In contrast to McAuliffe, who introduced much of his education platform concurrently with his announcement to run in the Democratic primary, Youngkin did not begin sharing proposals for state spending on education until months after securing the Republican nomination. McAuliffe criticized Youngkin for not releasing budget details until late in the campaign and argued that spending on education in Virginia could be threatened by the extent of Youngkin's tax cut proposals. The Washington Post wrote that Youngkin's education platform was "far lighter on details" than McAuliffe's and that it largely focused on cultural issues over budgetary proposals. Youngkin began offering specific proposals for education spending late in the summer of 2021, only a few months before the election. These proposals included $100 million a year for raising teacher salaries, $200 million for improvements to school infrastructure, and over $1 billion for expanding school choice programs.

Youngkin inherited a record surplus in state revenue from Northam, which was projected to continue growing during the state's then-upcoming budget cycle. As a result of this surplus, Youngkin had the opportunity to sign a biennial state budget in 2022 that committed $19.2 billion to education, a record for the state even when accounting for inflation. This exceeded the $16.95 billion in education spending that Republicans had wanted to include in the biennial budget. Republicans agreed to the higher amount as part of a budget compromise with Democrats. In exchange for getting much of their desired education spending enacted, Democrats agreed to enact several of Youngkin's tax cut proposals.

Incorporated into the budget compromise was an outgoing proposal of Northam's to enact a 10% salary increase for Virginia teachers over two years. Also included in the compromise were one-time $1,000 bonuses for teachers. This plan was chosen over the one preferred by Republicans, which would have paired a more modest 8% salary increase for teachers over two years with 1% bonuses.

School construction and maintenance received $1.25 billion in the 2022 biennial state budget. This exceeds the amount that had been allotted for these needs in Northam's outgoing budget proposals but is a small fraction of the $25 billion that the Virginia Department of Education says it would take to fully replace the state's oldest schools.

The Virginia Preschool Initiative was expanded by he 2022 biennial state budget. This program provides preschool for many low-income children in the state. Prior to 2022, the program only served children aged four or older, and only families earning less than the federal poverty line could qualify. The 2022 state budget that Youngkin signed lowered the age eligibility to include three year olds and raised the income threshold to 300% of the federal poverty line.

Charter schools and lab schools

While running for governor, Youngkin voiced support for expanding charter schools in the state and set a goal of adding at least twenty during his term. After the election, The Richmond-Times Dispatch reported that Youngkin's actual goal for charter schools would be to increase the number in Virginia "to match North Carolina, which has more than 200." Only seven charter schools currently exist in Virginia, one of the lowest amounts in the country, and Youngkin has backed proposed legislation that would shift the authority to approve new charter schools from local school boards to newly created "regional charter school divisions". These divisions would have nine voting members, eight appointed by the Virginia State Board of Education, and one appointed by local school boards within the region.

The state budget that Youngkin signed for 2022 includes $100 million for re-establishing lab schools in Virginia. These K-12 public schools, which are separate from charter schools, had previously existed in the state and had continued to be allowed under Virginia law before Youngkin came into office, but none remained operating in the state by the start of Youngkin's term. Previous lab schools in Virginia had been established as partnerships with institutions of higher learning; only public colleges and universities with teacher training programs were allowed to enter into these partnerships. An amendment that Youngkin introduced to the 2022 state budget removed the requirement that all lab schools in the state act as teacher training programs. It also opened lab school partnerships to be formed with community colleges or certain private universities. Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears had to break a tie vote in the State Senate for this budget amendment to be approved by the General Assembly. Youngkin has additionally advocated for allowing private businesses to enter into lab school partnerships. He has said that lab schools could be either newly established or converted out of existing schools and has supported legislation that would direct the Virginia State Board of Education to "give substantial preference" to lab school applications filed by historically black colleges or universities. Under that legislation, the same preference would be given to applications seeking to establish lab schools in "underserved communities".

Youngkin supported revising how Virginia public schools are funded, so that per pupil funding for any students attending lab schools in the state would go to the institutions operating the schools attended by those students instead of going to the public school boards for the districts where those students reside. An amendment proposed by Youngkin for the 2022 state budget would have enacted this plan but was not adopted by the General Assembly. Although the Virginia Education Association and the editorial board of The Free Lance–Star have both supported Youngkin's goal of re-establishing lab schools in Virginia, they have also both criticized Youngkin's plan for redirecting per pupil funding away from local school boards, noting that because Virginia law allows lab schools to enroll students from anywhere in the state, the plan could lead to decreased funding for certain school districts.

Public school phone ban

On June 9, 2024, Youngkin signed an executive order prohibiting mobile phone use during classtime within public schools (the order omitted lunch time and time between class periods from prohibition). On May, 30th, 2025 Youngkin signed an executive order completely prohibiting mobile phone use within public schools.

Co-CEO

In October 2017, the Carlyle Group announced that its founders would remain executive chairmen on the board of directors but step down as the day-to-day leaders of the firm. The firm named Youngkin and Kewsong Lee as co-CEOs effective January 1, 2018. Youngkin oversaw Carlyle's real estate, energy, infrastructure businesses, and investment solutions businesses, while Lee oversaw the firm's corporate private equity and global credit businesses. Youngkin and Lee also joined the firm's board of directors when they became co-CEOs. During Youngkin and Lee's tenure as co-CEOs, they oversaw the firm's transition from a publicly traded partnership into a corporation.

Bloomberg News described the co-CEO relationship as "awkward... and increasingly acrimonious". The publication later wrote that Lee "quickly established dominance, diminishing Youngkin's clout". This situation was largely due to Lee being given control of the firm's corporate private equity and global credit units—which were bigger and more profitable than the firm's other units—at the onset. Youngkin retired from the Carlyle Group at the end of September 2020, after serving as co-CEO for about 30 months. Youngkin stated that he intended to focus on community and public service efforts.

Day one executive actions

After his inauguration, Youngkin signed eleven executive actions. The first of these bans the teaching of what it calls "inherently divisive concepts" and identifies critical race theory as one such concept. In his executive order, Youngkin characterized critical race theory and related concepts as "political indoctrination" that "instruct students to only view life through the lens of race and presumes that some students are consciously or unconsciously racist, sexist, or oppressive, and that other students are victims." The Washington Post noted that while critical race theory specifically refers to "an academic framework that examines how policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism in the United States", the term has been reappropriated by conservatives "as a catchall symbolizing schools' equity and diversity work." Youngkin's stance on critical race theory has been condemned by leaders of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, and according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, has "alarmed many educators" in the state. Youngkin's critics, the publication wrote, view the banning of critical race theory as an attempt to "whitewash" history and "erase black history".

Two of the executive actions signed by Youngkin on his first day in office rescinded COVID-19 regulations that had been enacted by the previous administration; one of these actions rescinded Virginia's statewide mask mandate for public schools and attempted to make compliance with local public school mask mandates optional; the other rescinded the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all state employees. Additionally, one of Youngkin's Day One executive orders called for a reevaluation of the workplace safety standards that had been adopted by the Northam administration as a protection against COVID-19.

The other executive actions taken by Youngkin on his first day in office were devoted to firing and replacing the entire Virginia Parole Board, calling for the state's Attorney General to investigate the handling of sexual assaults that had recently occurred in the Loudoun County public school system, initiating reviews of the Virginia Parole Board, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Virginia Employment Commission, creating commissions to combat antisemitism and human trafficking, ordering state agencies under Youngkin's authority to reduce nonmandatory regulations by 25%, and calling for the state to reevaluate its membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The Washington Post noted that Youngkin's first executive orders had gone "far beyond the practice of his predecessors in the Executive Mansion over the past 20 years", writing that while each of those predecessors had focused their first executive actions on "less incendiary topics", such as anti-discrimination protections and policy studies, Youngkin's first executive actions, "by contrast...poked a stick directly into a host of polarizing issues". Former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Bill Bolling, a Republican, condemned Youngkin's repeal of public school mask mandates, saying that it introduced "unnecessary controversy, confusion and litigation" and calling it "in direct conflict with an existing state law." The legality of Youngkin using an executive order to ban the teaching of critical race theory has also been called into question. The Washington Post noted that no governor had "banned critical race theory via executive order" before Youngkin and predicted that any such order would face court challenges, writing that it was "not clear" whether Youngkin would be exceeding his legal authority by issuing such an order. Despite criticism from the left his order was never successfully challenged or struck down by the courts and remained in force during his tenure.

Post-gubernatorial career

In July 2026, Youngkin joined Red Cell Partners, a venture studio based in Tysons, Virginia that builds companies in national security, cyber, and healthcare technology, as a partner, chairman, and board member, succeeding founder Grant Verstandig as chairman. Verstandig remained the firm's CEO.

Abortion

Abortion in Virginia remains legal up to the end of the second trimester of a pregnancy, and Virginia was the only Southern state not to restrict abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Youngkin advocated for restricting abortion in Virginia, but was unsuccessful. This was because Democrats controlled the Virginia Senate during the first two years of Youngkin's term, and won full control of the Virginia General Assembly in 2023. They maintained a majority in the Virginia Senate in the 2023 Virginia Senate election and won back control of the Virginia House of Delegates in the 2023 Virginia House of Delegates election. This blocked Youngkin from garnering the votes to enact abortion restrictions.

Youngkin describes himself as "pro-life," but supports legal access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, or protecting the mother's life. During his gubernatorial campaign, he criticized the Texas Heartbeat Act, which bans abortions around the sixth week of pregnancy except for when needed to protect the life of the mother. At that time, Youngkin stated his preference for a "pain threshold bill", which bans abortion at around twenty weeks. However, in July 2021 while running for governor, he was caught on a hot mic telling an activist that he would "start going on offense" against abortion rights if elected governor but would largely avoid the topic until then, saying "as a campaign topic, sadly, that in fact won't win my independent votes that I have to get."

As governor, Youngkin introduced a failed amendment to the state budget, that if adopted by the legislature, would have banned the state government from funding abortion services in cases of severe fetal abnormalities. Youngkin claimed that this would have made Virginia's policy on the public funding of abortion services consistent with the federal Hyde Amendment, which allows it only in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the mother's life. In actuality, as noted by the Richmond Public Interest Law Review, Virginia policy on the matter still would have been broader than the Hyde Amendment, as the state law also allows public funding of abortion services when needed to protect the pregnant mother's health.

In May 2022, following the leaked draft opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Youngkin joined with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan in calling on the federal government to intervene against protests targeting the homes of conservative Supreme Court Justices living in Virginia and Maryland. Youngkin was criticized by some conservatives for seeking federal action rather than enforcing a state law that bars protesters from targeting private residences. The state law was dismissed as "weak" by Youngkin. The Washington Post described the state law's constitutionality as unclear while noting that "enforcement would be up to local authorities in Fairfax County, not the governor." The publication noted that Youngkin and Hogan both believed the protests to be in violation of "a federal law that forbids demonstrations intended to sway judges on pending cases". Youngkin sought to block the protesters by having a perimeter established around Justice Samuel Alito's neighborhood, but his request was denied by Fairfax County officials, on the grounds that they believed such a perimeter would have been unconstitutional. In June 2022, Youngkin responded to the protests by introducing an amendment to the state budget, that if adopted, would have made it a felony in Virginia to participate in any protest seeking to intimidate or influence a judge. That budget amendment was defeated after receiving bipartisan opposition in the state legislature.

After the final opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson was issued, Youngkin expressed his support for the ruling and stated that he would sign "any bill" restricting abortion access in Virginia. He then tasked four Republican state lawmakers with developing legislation on the topic. Advocating for a 15-week abortion ban, he acknowledged that there would be limitations on what could pass through the State Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, and suggested a 20-week ban as a possible compromise. Either ban as proposed by Youngkin would include exceptions for rape, incest, or protecting the mother's life. Youngkin indicated that he would have supported restricting abortion access in Virginia beyond a 15-week ban if he can garner enough votes to do so, which he was unable to do.

COVID-19

Youngkin supports the COVID-19 vaccination effort but opposes mask and vaccine mandates. He and his family are vaccinated. In his first address to the General Assembly, he emphasized his position on the state's vaccination efforts by stating, "Speaking to you as your governor, I'll never tell you what you must do. But speaking to you as your neighbor and a friend, I strongly encourage you to get the vaccine."

Shortly before taking office, Youngkin challenged the Biden administration's employer vaccine mandate. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the mandate for certain health care workers but against the mandate for other private employers, Youngkin co-signed a letter with West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, asking the Biden administration to exempt rural and state run hospitals from the mandate, citing staffing shortages at many of those hospitals. In October 2022, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended that the COVID-19 vaccine be added to each state's list of required immunizations for school children, Youngkin stated that he would oppose any effort by the legislature to implement the recommendation.

While running for governor, Youngkin said that he would model his public school mask policy after that of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by banning local school boards from implementing their own mask mandates. Youngkin reversed this position later in the campaign, saying through his PR team that although he opposed Virginia's statewide public school mask mandate, he would give local school boards the discretion to implement their own mask policies. After winning the election, he re-emphasized his intention to repeal the statewide mandate while still allowing for local mandates. On his first day in office, January 15, 2022, he reversed his position again, signing an executive order that both repealed the statewide mandate and attempted to nullify any local mandates. This executive order was challenged by two lawsuits contending that it was in violation of state law at the time and exceeded Youngkin's constitutional authority. It was also challenged by the ACLU in a lawsuit arguing that the order was discriminatory against medically vulnerable students. Youngkin called on Virginia parents to cooperate with school principals while the lawsuits proceeded. On February 16, 2022, Youngkin signed a bill that made masking optional in all public schools throughout Virginia. The bill passed along mostly party lines and took effect on March 1. The ACLU's lawsuit against the Youngkin administration was decided on March 23, in a ruling that maintains Youngkin's ban on school mask mandates except for in areas frequented by students that were represented in the lawsuit. The Youngkin administration appealed the ruling, and in December 2022, reached a settlement with the plaintiffs. As described by The Associated Press, that settlement "largely tracks the terms" of the court ruling from March. The settlement allows mask mandates to be implemented by Virginia public schools in areas frequented by the plaintiffs, but also allows alternative seating or class assignments for any student impacted by such a mandate who does not want to wear a mask; the settlement further states that schools should consider alternatives to peer masking. Although the settlement applies only to students represented in the lawsuit, the ACLU has expressed the view that the settlement established a precedent allowing the same accommodations upon request for any other medically vulnerable students attending Virginia public schools.

Two other executive actions signed by Youngkin on his first day in office related to his pandemic response policies. One rescinded the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all state employees; the other called for a reevaluation of the workplace safety standards that the Northam administration had adopted as a pandemic mitigation strategy. On February 16, 2022, Youngkin convened the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry's Safety and Health Codes Board to vote on whether to revoke those safety standards. A few days before the vote, House Republicans rejected the nominations of two members that had been appointed to the board by Northam; both members were expected to vote against revoking the safety standards. Their nominations were rejected as part of a larger process of expelling Northam appointees from several state boards, which was undertaken by Republicans in response to Democrats defeating Youngkin's nomination of Andrew Wheeler to serve as a cabinet secretary.

The remaining members of the Safety and Health Codes Board voted 7 to 3 in favor of recommending that the safety standards be revoked. Following a public comment period, the board reconvened on March 21 and voted to officially revoke the safety standards. Virginia had been the first state to adopt workplace safety standards in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the standards, which included a mask mandate for workers in high-risk indoor areas, officially ended on March 23, 2022.

Upon taking office, Youngkin extended a limited state of emergency that had been implemented by the Northam administration ten days earlier to increase hospital capacity and allow medical professionals licensed in other states to practice in Virginia. The extension was originally set to last until February 21, 2022 but was renewed through March 22 of that year.

In January 2022, the Virginia Department of Health, under Youngkin's authority, became one of the first states to cease efforts at contact tracing every positive case of COVID-19. Health officials with the department explained that the decision was made primarily due to the increased difficulty of contact tracing the omicron variant. These officials further explained that the policy would allow the department to better focus its resources on responding to "outbreaks and cases in high risk settings" and that individuals who test positive should continue to personally notify contacts.

In May 2022, Youngkin announced that on July 5 of that year, he would be scaling back the telework policy for Virginia's executive branch employees, which had been expanded two years earlier by Northam in response to the pandemic. Under Youngkin's policy, those employees can telework one day a week or on a temporary basis with approval from the head of their agency, two days a week with approval from a cabinet secretary, and three or more days a week with approval from Youngkin's chief of staff. As noted by The Richmond-Times Dispatch, "employees of state colleges and universities, legislative or judicial agencies, or independent commissions and authorities" are all exempt from the policy.

Youngkin argued that his telework policy would lead to increased innovation and improved customer service across state agencies. Democrats criticized the policy, arguing that it would endanger state workers amid the ongoing pandemic while causing retention problems for state agencies. They called on Youngkin to maintain Northam's policy until at least after Labor Day, so as to ease pressure on state employees struggling to find childcare over the summer. Youngkin's policy also gave state agencies less discretion to approve telework arrangements than they had held before the pandemic began. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Youngkin's policy diverged from private sector trends favoring telework options and could lead to challenges for state employees in rural areas with particularly long commutes. In early June, the Youngkin administration missed a self-imposed deadline for approving telework requests. In between Youngkin's announcement and its implementation on July 5, hundreds of state employees resigned.

Economy

During his campaign for governor, Youngkin frequently said that Virginia's economy was "in the ditch". Some political scientists, such as Mark Rozell, considered this an unusual position, since throughout the campaign, Virginia had low unemployment, a budget surplus, and a AAA bond rating. The state had also been rated that year by CNBC as the Top State for Business. Youngkin argued against the merits of the CNBC rating, stating that it put too much emphasis on inclusivity and noting Virginia's poor ratings in the "cost of living" and "cost of doing business" categories. During Youngkin's first year in office, Virginia lost its top spot on the CNBC list, after having earned that spot twice in a row during Northam's governorship. The lower ranking under Youngkin was due to Virginia earning worse scores in the "life, health and inclusion" and "workforce" categories. Virginia regained the CNBC title as the Top State for Business in 2024.

Taxes

The Washington Post noted that more than two months after winning the Republican nomination, Youngkin had "yet to disclose any formal economic plan." One of Youngkin's main proposals at that stage of the race was an elimination of Virginia's individual income tax. According to NPR, this proposal received "criticism from both Democrats and Republicans that doing so would wipe out around 70% of Virginia's General Fund." Before the end of his campaign, Youngkin retracted his proposal to eliminate the tax, calling it "aspirational" and saying, "In Virginia, we can't get rid of income tax, but we sure can try to bring it down."

In late August 2021, Youngkin proposed a series of more modest tax cuts, such as eliminating the grocery tax, suspending the gas tax increase, offering a one-time rebate on income tax, doubling the standard deduction on income tax, cutting the retirement tax on veterans' income, implementing voter approval for any increase to local real estate property taxes, and offering a tax holiday for small businesses. Upon their announcement, the Associated Press called these proposals "the most wide-ranging and detailed look at the priorities of a potential Youngkin administration". Had these proposals gone on to be enacted in full, they would have amounted to $1.8 billion in one-time tax cuts and $1.4 billion in recurring tax cuts. During the campaign, Youngkin proposed paying for much of his proposed tax cuts with the state's budget surplus, which at the time, was projected to total $2.6 billion. Although The Washington Post and NPR both noted that much of that revenue would be unavailable for tax cuts, since state law required that over half of the amount be devoted to the state's "rainy day" reserve fund, water quality improvement fund, and transportation fund, Virginia's budget surplus continued to grow, and by the end of Northam's term, was projected to total at least $13.4 billion for the state's then-upcoming budget cycle.

As his campaign's senior economic advisor, Youngkin hired Stephen Moore, who had helped oversee significant tax cuts in Kansas several years earlier when Sam Brownback was in office as that state's governor. NPR noted towards the end of the Virginia gubernatorial campaign that Youngkin "sourced much of his fiscal agenda from [Moore]." In response to Moore's hiring, The Washington Post described the Brownback tax cuts as "an experiment widely seen as a failure, leading the state to slash spending for priorities such as education and transportation when revenue dried up". The publication noted that the tax cuts were ultimately repealed "on a bipartisan vote". Youngkin's Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Terry McAuliffe, cited the economic downturn in Kansas as a way to critique Youngkin's economic platform. Moore acknowledged after joining the Youngkin campaign that the Brownback tax cuts had negatively impacted the Kansas economy but argued that they should be perceived as an anomaly, saying that several other states "did really well when they lowered taxes".

In 2022, Youngkin signed a two-year, $165 billion state budget featuring $4 billion in tax cuts. According to The Washington Post, the "centerpiece" of this budget was "a big increase in the standard deduction for personal income tax." Rather than doubling the standard deduction, as Youngkin had proposed, the budget increased it by about 80%, raising it from $4,500 to $8,000 for individuals and from $9,000 to $16,000 for couples filing jointly. The budget included one-time tax rebates and a partial elimination of Virginia's grocery tax, both of which aligned with Northam's own outgoing budget proposals rather than with Youngkin's preferred tax policies. As Northam had proposed, the one-time tax rebates amounted to $250 for individuals and $500 for couples, slightly less than Youngkin's desired $300 for individuals and $600 for couples, and although the final budget enacted Northam and Youngkin's shared goal of eliminating a 1.5% grocery tax that had been levied by the state, Democrats blocked Youngkin's additional proposal to eliminate a separate 1% grocery tax levied by Virginia localities. Fully included in the budget was Youngkin's proposal to enact a tax exemption of up to $40,000 a year for military pensions. According to The Washington Post, the exemption will be "phased in over several years." Another proposal of Northam's included in the budget was making up to 15% of the earned income tax credit refundable. This policy, designed to benefit low-income tax filers, was described by The Richmond-Times Dispatch as "a longtime Democratic priority" and had been opposed by Republicans. It was included in the budget as a compromise between the two parties.

Criminal justice

Policing

In 2022, Youngkin signed a bill downscaling the Marcus alert system, which had been established by Northam about two years earlier in response to both the George Floyd protests of 2020 and the 2018 killing in Richmond of Marcus-David Peters. Wherever implemented, the Marcus alert system requires that mental health professionals be involved in responding to any mental health crises reported to 911. Certain localities in Virginia began adopting the system in late 2021. When signed into law by Northam, the system was required to be implemented statewide by July 2026. The legislation signed by Youngkin in 2022 exempts Virginia localities with populations of under 40,000 from having to adopt the Marcus alert system. This exemption applies to about 67% of Virginia localities and over 19% of the state's population. It was adopted due to concerns about the cost of implementing the system statewide.

When first established by Northam, the Marcus alert system was criticized by Peters' sister, Princess Blanding, for its slow adoption process and for continuing to give law enforcement a significant role in responding to many mental health crisis situations. Her belief that the Marcus alert system needed to be improved upon led her to run as an independent candidate against Youngkin and McAuliffe in Virginia's 2021 gubernatorial election. Although Youngkin's legislation downscaling the system gained some bipartisan support in the state legislature, it was opposed by Blanding and most House Democrats.

Another bill signed by Youngkin in 2022 bans law enforcement agencies in Virginia from using quotas for ticket-writing or arrests. This bill, which was proposed by the Virginia Police Benevolent Association, also states that "the number of arrests made or summonses issued by a law-enforcement officer shall not be used as the sole criterion for evaluating the law-enforcement officer's job performance." Both parties in the state legislature supported the bill. Although as originally written, the bill provided for violations of its bans to be investigated by the FBI, this provision was removed from the final bill.

Sentence credits

An amendment that Youngkin introduced to the 2022 state budget limited the number of inmates who could qualify for an expanded early release program that was scheduled to begin later that summer. The program allows inmates in Virginia to earn time off their sentences through good behavior credits. It had been expanded through legislation signed in 2020 by Youngkin's predecessor, Ralph Northam, so that Virginia's cap on how many good behavior credits could be earned was raised for most inmates. As this expansion of the program was originally designed, the newly available credits could not be used to reduce sentences for violent crimes but could be used by inmates convicted of violent crimes to reduce any concurrent or consecutive sentences that had been imposed for nonviolent crimes. Youngkin and other Republicans characterized this aspect of the program as an unintentional loophole that needed correcting. Democrats largely disagreed with that characterization, arguing that the expanded program had been intentionally designed to give violent offenders the ability to reduce sentences unrelated to violent offenses. Youngkin's amendment was adopted by the General Assembly along mostly party lines. It made inmates convicted of violent crimes fully ineligible for the expanded program, meaning that these inmates could not use the newly available credits to reduce any sentences.

Although the expanded early release program was approved by Northam in 2020, it did not take effect until July 1, 2022. Because the newly available credits were made applicable retroactively for anyone who would have earned them earlier in their sentences, about 550 inmates convicted of violent crimes were set to be released once the law took effect in July 2022. Youngkin's amendment was approved a few weeks before these inmates would have been released. As a result, these inmates were not released at that time, even though they had already been told of their planned release.