Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s final address to legislators painted a paradoxical picture. Virginia is stronger than ever, he said, but certain policies could undo its recent prosperity.
“By every single metric, today Virginia is stronger than she has ever been,” he told the General Assembly during Wednesday’s State of the Commonwealth. “Stronger financially, educationally, environmentally, stronger in terms of public safety, stronger in terms of behavioral health, with better infrastructure and with more opportunity than ever before.”
As he listed his achievements, the outgoing Republican executive warned against abandoning tax breaks, changing Virginia’s ban on closed-shop unions, participating in a regional carbon market and curtailing the spread of data centers as Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s term begins.
In their response, state Democrats said Youngkin’s unwillingness to publicly confront President Donald Trump and challenge policies coming from Washington has already put the commonwealth’s economy at risk.
“We listened to him talk. But who believes him? Because the record is clear. The damage is real,” said Sen. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth), the Senate president pro tempore, in her response to Youngkin’s speech. Other Democrats raised their eyebrows or scoffed as Youngkin admonished policy preferences.
The message echoes Youngkin’s December remarks to the joint money committees.
“My cautionary message is to stay with the program, and don’t pass anti-business legislation. Many of the bills that have been filed are bad for business. My friends, Virginia is leading, don’t allow her to become California or Illinois,” he said at the time.
After Youngkin’s final address, his fellow Republicans praised the remarks.
“His administration focused on results, returning billions to taxpayers while improving core services and strengthening Virginia’s long-term financial health,” said Del. Scott Wyatt (R–Hanover). “He leaves Virginia better than he found it, and our commonwealth is grateful.”
“We’ve won record business investment — over $157 billion — more than the last six administrations combined,” said Youngkin. “Record investment that has fueled enormous job growth. Nearly 270,000 more Virginians are working today than when we started.”
Data centers made up 73% of the investment, according to figures VPM News requested from the Virginia Economic Development Project. The statistics also said that data centers made up 15% of the jobs. Over 40% of the investors were also confidential, according to VEDP’s figures.
Youngkin said the investments stemmed from tax cuts and advised against legislation straying from that: “Bills raising nearly every tax known to man have been introduced.”
“One thing we have clearly demonstrated is that lowering tax burdens brings people, businesses and jobs. Increasing taxes drives them away,” said Youngkin. “Indeed, in 2023, for the first time in 10 years, more people moved to Virginia than moved away to the other 49 states.”
The governor did reference the “newest Virginians,” but did not attribute any of that growth to immigration. However, immigrants put the state’s population growth into positive territory in 2023 and have made up the majority of move-ins, according to census data from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center.
While not as blunt as his other advice to Democrats, Youngkin also advised against confronting Trump.
“Constructively working with the administration works for Virginians. When a governor picks up the phone and calls a Cabinet secretary to work through issues, it’s good for Virginia,” he said, pointing to the resumption of paused federal grants, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development headquarters relocation to Alexandria.
Beyond investment, Youngkin proudly spoke of his record on education — pointing to billions in additional funding for education, voucher programs, higher teacher salaries and fewer teacher vacancies.
A rare widespread bipartisan applause came when he mentioned cellphone-free education, which he moved forward via executive order.
House Speaker Don Scott signaled he understood why Youngkin touted the things he did, calling him a unique political talent.
“We expected him to give us a little bit of a lecture tonight, and that’s his prerogative as governor, and he’s leaving,” Scott said after the address. “Unfortunately, his political instincts have not been good in the last two [election] cycles.”
“Why would we take his advice?”
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