Youngkin: Economic concerns will 'calm' if GOP has good midterms

With midterm elections approaching and the national economy still dragging, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin suggested Republican success could ease economic concerns.

Every seat in the House of Representatives is on the ballot this year, as are 34 Senate seats and 36 governor’s positions. Most analysts expect Republicans to gain control of the House, but the Senate is much less certain. Youngkin, who has campaigned for Republicans in Virginia and several other states, expressed an optimistic view of the upcoming elections for Republicans while giving the keynote address at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference.

“What I learned last year, I think, is something that is repeating itself this year,” Youngkin, who was elected last year as a Republican in a Democratic-leaning state, said during the conference.

“What I learned last year is that there are real kitchen-table concerns every night in Virginia families, in American families,” the governor continued. “[They have] concerns about inflation and what’s going to their job and [whether] can they make ends meet and just see grocery prices going through the roof and to see utility bills and college tuition and all of the things that families worry about. That is such a big deal.”

Youngkin said voters want to be confident in their job security, want their neighborhoods to be safe and want schools they can trust. He said these are the same issues that Virginians focused on in the 2021 gubernatorial election and expressed optimism that Republicans will take control of the House and the Senate and do well in gubernatorial races throughout the country,

With the country recording two-straight quarters of negative economic growth, many economists have said the nation is either in a recession or is approaching a recession. The governor said that a Republican victory to establish a divided government could ease some of those concerns. Even though there will likely be a slow down, he said it can prevent a hard landing.

“That will be a calming influence that now instead of having single party government, we have divided government,” Youngkin said. “And we could end up with, I think, a little bit more rational spending because I do believe that what’s come out of the Biden White House has in fact been disconnected from supply and demand of money.”

Even though the economy has faced problems, the governor said that investments and hiring in the commonwealth have continued. Through his communications with business leaders, he said he expects them to continue in Virginia.

Virginians will not elect a governor or any senators Nov. 8, but will decide who represents their districts in the House. Two of the tightest races are the Second Congressional District and the Seventh Congressional district.