Hey, today, we're going to take a quick look at why Virginia turned red.
That's next.
Hey, welcome back to the Barry Fresh Show Culture Shift, and boy is today's talk all
about culture.
As we learn more about the Virginia upset, there are lasting lessons.
I'm going to get to the second half of the inflation discussion next time, but we did
have a historic election, and we really should learn from it while the lessons are fresh.
So back in November of 2020, Virginia went for Democrat Biden by 10 points.
In November of 2021, Virginia went for Republican Glenn Youngkin by two points.
That's a 12-point swing.
How did he do it, and can it be replicated?
First, Youngkin is a very pleasant person.
He doesn't turn off the Volvo-driving suburban mom with a harsh tone.
He also didn't shy away from his faith.
He used language that signals to that large segment, the Christian community, that he's
one of them.
For example, he said, I've long felt a calling to service, and he used words like conviction,
blessed, and belief.
He helped start Holy Trinity Church on a farm that he purchased.
He didn't hide his faith, but he didn't wear it on a sleeve, and his pleasant demeanor
did not frighten anyone.
Second, Youngkin is disciplined.
He did not get caught doing things or saying things that can severely hurt you in a campaign.
He didn't anger the base by emphatically saying there was no fraud in the election.
He made election integrity a key issue during the primary, but he gave himself latitude
to make the issue forward-looking versus trying to undo the past.
He stated the obvious, Biden is our president.
This helped him come across as pragmatic, focusing on what can actually be controlled.
Third, Youngkin is relational.
He reached out to the fractured Republican Party and spent hours listening to them and
attempting to unify them.
He developed, with the help of his capable wife, a personal army to help him win.
He went deep into that church community with volunteers and surrogate speakers.
He had 27,000 women volunteers, most of whom were church-going moms.
There wasn't much to hate, so the hardened Republican establishment guys that might have
been upset about a political newcomer eventually came along and they eventually supported him.
Fourth, his message was solid.
He started with a hefty ad spend, introducing himself to Virginians.
He washed dishes as a teen to help the family pay bills when his dad lost his job.
That's pretty impressive.
But he did become very successful.
He made it to Harvard, top consulting firm McKinsey and Company, and then he joined a
leading private equity firm, Carlisle.
There he helped take them public in 2012 and eventually became the co-CEO and made a lot
of money doing it.
But all that was under the auspice of starting from an, aw shucks, I come from humble beginnings,
perspective.
And it was genuine enough that he connected with people.
Then he kept the message local to Virginia.
He made it a statewide issue.
And when he talked about kitchen table topics, he did so from a credible business executive's
perspective.
And when he talked about cultural topics, he did so without an edge.
The kitchen table topics included eliminating an unpopular grocery tax.
He conveyed that message with this uplifting tone.
The cultural topics included critical race theory and gender identity and explicit sexual
content being taught in schools.
He really just exposed what was happening, but he did it effectively.
The mask mandates and the controversial social curricula really helped him.
Virginia parents were fed up with these high paid educators telling them how to raise their
kids.
And Youngkin's opponent, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, made it easy.
In a debate, he said, I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should
teach.
Youngkin seized on that unforced error.
He responded, you believe school systems should tell children what to do?
I believe parents should be in charge of their kids' education.
It was an absolute home run.
He hammered this message with more self-funded television ads, and the parents were sold.
Youngkin won school-age parents by 15 points.
Everyone knows he's a Christian, but he didn't moralize.
But his opponent did.
This made it even clearer that Youngkin was on your side.
He pointed to the parent.
The parent needs to be listened to.
The parent should have control over their kids.
This enabled him to bring both the Volvo-driving suburban mom and the pickup-driving blue-collar
guy to the same rally.
Fifth, Youngkin has money.
A personal treasure estimated at $440 million.
So he could afford to invest 5-10% of his money.
net worth on his own campaign without flinching. And he did. His ad spend was huge. He hired
expensive top consultants to work for him. And he proved his executive skills in the way he
ran the campaign. Sixth, he appealed across the board. You know, he got 54% of the Hispanic
community. It's hard to listen to him and his black female lieutenant governor and think of
him as a racist. That's because he isn't. Yet the Democrats tried to make him out to be one.
Even though he's white and his family is beautiful, so is the Democrats.
So McAuliffe's attempts to make racism an issue just didn't stick. It didn't work.
Youngkin's opposition to critical race theory wasn't racist at all. It was just a factual
opposition to a theme most parents didn't want their kids taught. Racism didn't stick because
Youngkin didn't become defensive and he didn't try to placate the, you don't agree with me,
so you're a racist mob. He just focused on what was in it for the citizens of Virginia.
His kind demeanor didn't make him weak. He held tough and firm when the false accusations came
and that convinced some Trump voters that he was strong. And seventh and finally,
he finessed the issue with Trump and Trump was willing to support that strategy. In Virginia,
Trump's antics outweigh the benefit of his policies in the mind of the large independent
population. Youngkin is a smart private equity executive and he's comfortable in the presence
of billionaires. He used his relational skills to engage Trump and his team. The request was
basically, for the sake of the country, please know that we're implementing your policies,
but let us do this without your larger than life personality coming to Virginia.
And Trump basically complied. Trump didn't force Youngkin to campaign with him.
He didn't shame him. He didn't make the Virginia election about him. He made it about the country
and that helped Youngkin navigate the Volvo driving mom effectively. Glenn Youngkin's
opponent, Terry McAuliffe, attacked him over and over saying that Youngkin was just like Trump,
even called him Trumpkin, but he really isn't. So it never stuck. Yet his message had many
elements of the Trump policies laced through them and that kept him in play with the Trump
supporters. This also kind of raises a question, how strong the Trump support really is? I mean,
is the support for the policies or the person? For the policies, I mean, on policy, Trump lowered
taxes, reduced regulations, and his pro-freedom across the board did great things for freedom.
There are a lot of people that like those policies a lot. The person, Trump, showed people what it
looked like to take on that hostile mainstream media when you're from tough side of New York.
And his approach is a head-on confrontational approach. It was often not very pretty at all.
And in his defense, his opponents lie, they cheat, they're corrupt, and very few people could hold up
under such hostility. So a lot of supporters just appreciated how hard he would fight. And they were
like, I couldn't fight that hard, so I'm glad he's doing it. And they were willing to overlook some
of the self-aggrandizing for the benefit of taking on the bad guys. Youngkin was strong on the policy
issues, but could win the Trump supporter by being tough enough on the cultural issues.
He didn't go out of his way to embrace Trump, but he said he was honored to get his endorsement.
Youngkin used the school choice parental authority issue as his galvanizing message. And that was,
frankly, a kind of a political gift. But to his credit, he was ready for it and seemed to
be authentically conservative on the pro-parent control issue. So he won. He walked this political
tightrope and got all three segments that are possible for a Republican to get. Of course,
he didn't get the hardened Democrats. You're never going to get those if you're a Republican.
But he got the independents who are not hardened Democrats. He got the establishment Republicans,
and he got the faith community of Republicans who sometimes sit out of elections. That segment
should not be ignored. It just wants a principled, genuine fighter. Youngkin's probably already
thinking about the possibility of a presidential run. Why do you think? Well, Virginia only allows
one term for a governor at a time. You can't then run successively for a second term.
Regardless, Youngkin won a statewide election in a blue state, and no Republican had won statewide
in Virginia in a dozen years. He was fully engaged. He was energetic. And that isn't all.
He brought the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, and the House of Delegates along for the
ride. It's a total victory. So how do you duplicate this? I mean, in a state like Colorado,
as blue or bluer than Virginia, but almost identical in voting demographics, it seems
impossible. But it isn't.
The electorate is ready to move beyond polarization.
They do not like the nasty failures of the Democrats in power now.
They're tired of the arrogant education bureaucracy and more.
Republicans need to get beyond their establishment mindset.
They have an opportunity here. They have to quit
playing favorites for the next guy in line. They need to embrace political
outsiders like Yunkin,
who may not have as deep pockets
as Yunkin. He had the instincts to identify widely popular grassroots issues.
He remained firm to the end. The left will scream bloody murder,
but the left ignores the people. Now,
the role of governor is more than policy. To some extent,
you have to be the right person. Yunkin answered the subconscious question.
Is this the guy that I can believe in, that I mean,
I want running the state in an emergency?
Is it okay with me that he's on the local news all the time?
Do I trust that he's basically a good guy and wants what's best for the state,
not just what's best for him? And Yunkin answered those questions.
But can we learn from Yunkin for other offices?
Well, certainly. Stay on message. Stay clean. Remain disciplined.
Stay upbeat. Push back firmly,
but it's okay to do so with decorum. At the end of the day,
communicate that you're running to serve people,
especially parents. Do these things
and you might win in a district or even a state where a Republican hasn't won in over a decade.
If you're running for a congressional seat,
it's local. It averages under 800,000 people per district.
It's also national. And here you need a galvanizing message,
and that requires a repeat of the concept of the 1994 contract with America.
So back in 1992, Bill Clinton, a Democrat,
became president over a very lackluster competitor. By 1993,
he was unpopular for a number of reasons,
including his wife Hillary's overreach. In the off-year election of 1994,
Republicans took the House and the Senate,
first time in 40 years. Why'd they do that?
Well, they developed and ran on a popular contract with America.
These included changes to the way Congress would act among themselves.
For example, on day one,
they would implement that they would require that Congress would submit to the same laws
they were making everyone else abide by.
They would require a 60% majority vote to pass any tax increase.
Imagine that. They'd require all the meetings to be open to the public
and they would require a more transparent budgeting process.
And in addition to those rule changes internally,
they pledged to bring to the floor 10 bills that would affect policy across the country.
The text of those bills were actually released before the election.
They included a balanced budget. That would be amazing. Tax cuts,
term limits for Congress, tort reform, and welfare reform.
Most of these popular reforms didn't make it out of Congress.
Some got vetoed by President Clinton. A few were actually implemented.
But if you're in Congress now, put together a revised and improved contract for America.
I mean, learn from those past mistakes, figure out a better way to do it
so that it doesn't get shut down by the Supreme Court or shut down by Congress.
And if you're wanting to be in Congress,
start running on those broadly popular ideas now.
I mean, they support limited government and those support your freedom.
In any event, whether you're running for mayor, city council, or governor,
the lessons learned from Youngkin should not be ignored.
To your freedom and God bless you.
Hi, I'm David Farah. Thank you for listening to my dad's podcast,
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