Republicans retool their ‘parents rights’ playbook for Virginia governor’s race

After Glenn Youngkin ran successfully on education and cultural issues four years ago, the GOP is hoping to expand the message ahead of a key 2025 election.

Republicans managed to flip the Virginia governorship in 2021 largely on an education platform, focusing on parents’ concerns over peak-pandemic public school closings and race-based curricula.

Four years later, the party is aiming to retool its “parents’ rights” campaign in its bid to hold on to the office in the blue-leaning state in a post-Covid era.

“It will be a big part of their campaign, just as it was in 2021,” said Virginia-based Republican strategist Zack Roday. “It fits nicely into the ‘common-sense arguments.’ It fits nice in there with ‘kitchen-table issues.’”

“It’s a great way to put Democrats on defense,” he said.

Fueled by parents’ frustrations over school closings during the pandemic, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin leaned hard into the issue during his successful 2021 run, making his closing message almost entirely about education. At the time, it was an issue Democrats had traditionally campaigned on more than Republicans.