Glenn Youngkin is ‘running out of time’ for president bid but entering race late ‘could give him advantage,’ experts say
VIRGINIA Governor Glenn Youngkin is running out of time to throw his name into the ring for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, political experts have told The U.S. Sun.
Youngkin, 56, has been touted as a potential candidate for the GOP nomination, and speculation surrounding a presidential bid has intensified.
Youngkin shocked the political establishment when he defeated former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe in the hotly-contested gubernatorial election in 2021.
He defeated McAuliffe in a state that Joe Biden carried by more than 10 percentage points against Donald Trump in 2020.
Virginia has been blue for the last four presidential elections and a Republican candidate has not won the state since George W. Bush in 2004.
Governors of Virginia cannot serve consecutive terms, per the state’s constitution, meaning Youngkin cannot seek re-election when Virginians go to the polls in November 2025.
Trump’s rivals for the GOP nomination have struggled to make in-roads into his big lead and billionaire GOP donors have reportedly been trying to convince Youngkin to declare his candidacy.
Youngkin has said he's concentrating on the Virginia legislature elections that take place in November but has not completely ruled out a run for the nomination.
But he faces a race against time to join the field that includes Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Chris Christie.
Republican candidates only have until October 16 to file paperwork that gets themselves on the ballot for the Nevada GOP primary.
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David Richards, a political expert at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia, told The U.S. Sun: “Every day Youngkin waits, it gets harder for him in terms of filing paperwork.
"There’s a lesser chance of getting support from donors and the rest of the Republican Party.”
Fellow political expert Jacob Neiheisel, of the University of Buffalo, has warned about the risks of Youngkin entering the GOP race late.
He said: “History suggests that the candidates who go into the race later, it doesn’t turn out well for them. We saw that with Michael Bloomberg.”
Michael Bloomberg did not contest the Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina caucuses as he ran for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nominee.
He ended up dropping out of the race in March after only winning one Super Tuesday race – American Samoa.
Bloomberg only launched his campaign in November 2019 – almost a year after some of his rivals.
Neiheisel alluded to some of the benefits for Youngkin of entering the race late.
He said: “He will not have taken the damage the other candidates have had from the two debates.
“They have taken shots. If he can avoid that and let the field thin out a little bit before joining later, that’s a positive.
Both Richards and Neiheisel have said that Youngkin remains on the lookout and is reading the tea leaves, assessing the state of the GOP primary race before making a final decision.
Trump’s lead in the GOP primary polls remains commanding and his rivals have struggled to close the gap.
But, the former commander-in-chief has been indicted four times and faces criminal charges.
Trump was charged in Washington, DC, with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
His trial date has been set for March 4, 2024 – the day before Super Tuesday.
The start of the ex-president’s trial relating to his classified documents case has been scheduled for May 20 – just months before the Republican National Convention.
But, the experts have warned that Youngkin shouldn’t be completely hedging his bets on Trump’s campaign imploding.
Richards said: “Banking on a strategy that’s based on waiting for Trump to fall is a great strategy because there doesn’t seem to be anything that will see him trip and fall.
“So many things have happened that would have sunk almost any other normal presidential candidate, but with Trump, he can just bounce back and raise a bunch of money off it and continue going.”
But, Youngkin has managed to attract chunky contributions from donors.
Megadonor Thomas Peterffy has made several $1million donations to Youngkin’s political action committee The Spirit of Virginia.
Peterffy told Fox News that Youngkin is an ideal candidate for the GOP.
Billionaire Jeff Yass has donated $2million to the PAC, as reported by CBS News.
Richards said Youngkin was setting himself up for a run at the Republican nomination in 2028.
He said: “Youngkin has waited too long for 2024. It would take a serious problem – maybe if Trump had a health problem, and a vacuum in the GOP appeared that doesn’t exist today.”
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He revealed that a candidate like Haley would be in a better position to scoop up Trump’s supporters if the tycoon had to pull out.
Haley is currently averaging around 6.5% in the Republican national primary polls.
