1-on-1: Gov. Glenn Youngkin reacts to GOP midterm losses in Virginia and nationwide

RICHMOND, Va. (7News) — On Wednesday morning, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke with 7News in Richmond following Tuesday’s midterm election results.

Youngkin campaigned for Republican Yesli Vega and Hung Cao several times as both candidates worked to unseat two Democratic Northern Virginia Congresswomen: Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton. Both races were expected to be close in the final days of the campaign and Republicans, including Youngkin, had hoped to flip the two districts red on Tuesday.

RELATED | Democrat Spanberger winner of Virginia Congressional District 7; Vega concedes

Spanberger and Wexton are the projected winners and they both delivered victory speeches Tuesday evening.

RELATED | Jennifer Wexton claims victory in Virginia Congressional District 10; Hung Cao concedes

Cao has conceded to Wexton. As of Wednesday afternoon, Vega also conceded the race to Spanberger.

Republican Jen Kiggans is the projected winner in Virginia’s Second Congressional District beating incumbent Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria.

Below is the 7News conversation with Governor Youngkin on Wednesday morning:

7News Reporter Nick Minock: “Governor, let's start with the election results last night (Tuesday). Let's start locally here in Virginia, and then let's go nationwide. In Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District and 10th Congressional District, they did not go red. Was it the candidates? Was it the message? What's your reaction?”

Gov. Youngkin: “We had three races, the second, the seventh, and the tenth that were all going to be tough races. And we were hoping to flip all three, but we knew they were going to be tough. And you know, Jen Kiggan’s win down in the second is a big win and Congresswoman Wexton and Congresswoman Spanberger ran really strong races. We had great candidates in Hung Cao and Yesli Vega and I think that's what Virginians want--- which is [a] real choice. I was pulling for Yesli, working hard for Yesli and Hung. But I did call, this morning, the congresswomen and congratulated them on their win. We gotta go work together now. You know, campaigns are hard work, they're emotional. And then after the campaign, it's time to go to work. And I think that's what we're all gonna go do. Virginians expect their elected leaders to deliver results and that's what we've done. On Nov. 3rd last year, we went to work. I think we've had a really strong first year, and I think that's what they're going to be expecting about this round of elected leaders.”

Minock: “Nationally, Republicans underperformed a lot of expectations from both sides of the aisle. You traveled the country, you went to several different states this campaign cycle. Do you think this was a repudiation of the issues that Republicans ran on: the economy, inflation, crime and immigration, or a repudiation of Trump-backed candidates?”

Gov. Youngkin: “I think that the net is that we had hoped and expected to win more races than we did. There's still some races outstanding. I do expect there to be a shift in the majority in Congress, and we'll see what happens in the Senate. Those races are really tight and there may be a runoff. But at least in the House, I think there will be a shift and I think we're gonna have divided government. And I think divided government speaks to the fact that we have a divided country and what voters expect is for folks to go to work and get things done. In Virginia, we have a divided legislature, we get things done. And so I think it's incumbent on folks to go to work today. I think the message from yesterday [Election Day] is that there is a divided country that Americans and Virginians are hurting, and they're looking for their elected leaders to deliver results.”

Minock:“What do you think went wrong for Republicans last night [Election Day]? I understand Former President Donald Trump, he might run for the White House, again. Do you think he should run?”

Gov. Youngkin: “Let me begin with the clear statement that the former president's going to do what the former president is going to do. Today, we still have a number of races that haven't even been finalized yet. And so we don't know the full results of the November 8 election, and we've got to settle that and then people need to go to work. And I think that all of the speculation on 2024 is misplaced because we need to go to work and start getting things done. And I think that's the big message of this campaign season, which is, governors, Republican governors, particularly, that have been delivering for their constituents were rewarded with bipartisan support. And I think that's what voters are looking for. They're looking for results. And now's the time for elected leaders, Democrats and Republicans to come together to deliver results. That's what people want. And when people don't deliver results, that's when voters get really frustrated. And so I think we've seen some changes in places as I said, though, there is an expected shift in the control of the House Representatives. We’ll see what happens in the Senate. But most particularly we watched governors that have delivered results be supported by their constituents and I think that's the big message.”

Minock:“Looking at the results yesterday [Election Day] here in Virginia, is that going to change your policy directives and your mission here in Richmond at all, as it relates to education policy? Also, what do you think about the battle for the State Senate? Jen Kiggans is a state senator [who is going to Congress]. We're going to see how that district shapes up with a special election. What are your thoughts?”

Gov. Youngkin: “As we head into this next legislative session, which starts in January, and we reflect on the fact that I think we've had an extremely productive first year with tax cuts and big movements in education and law enforcement and making government work better. And as we head into the second year, you're going to see more ambitious aspirations on the same topics. We've got to continue to get our cost of living sorted out, and I think one of the big components of that continues to be taxes. But on top of that---housing. And housing for Virginians needs to be more accessible and more affordable. We've got to go to work to continue to support law enforcement. Our Operation Bold Blue Line is focused on recruiting 2,000 more badges onto the streets and making our community safer. And education continues to be such a challenge. The NAEP scores just emphasize the fact that learning loss has been real. We've got a number of extremely important initiatives that we have rolled out. We're going to continue to work to make schools so much better for Virginians to prepare them for careers and for college, and to make sure that we're delivering on our promise to our young people that they can in fact get a great education in the Commonwealth of Virginia that will prepare them for life.”

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Minock:“I heard there was a letter written to Nancy Pelosi. Tell me about that.”

Gov. Youngkin: “I have said that my primary purpose in my comments were to condemn wholeheartedly, violence, and particularly the atrocious act that was committed to Speaker Pelosi’s husband and I didn't do a great job of expressing that. I feel like one of the things that as people we do is, we reach out to folks and words matter. That was a personal note between me and the speaker. But, words matter.”

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Minock:“The election may be done this year, but there are still a lot of challenges. What message would you have for Washington right now?

Gov. Youngkin: “Exercise fiscal responsibility. That's what we need. And in this new Congress, take seriously the reality that we cannot have runaway spending, we need to exercise fiscal responsibility and get inflation back under control.”

Minock: “What are your top priorities for the regular session starting in January?”

Gov. Youngkin: “In January, our top priorities are going to be, as I said, cost of living taxes, housing, education, law enforcement, but we also have big aspirations to press forward on workforce and restructuring the way we do workforce in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We've got huge opportunities to continue to develop the best workforce in the nation and we have all the ingredients we've just got to execute. And so again, we're going to have big ambitions, but we're also going to be very focused on that promise.”

Minock:“All those candidates you campaigned for outside of the State of Virginia, whether it was Tudor Dixon or Kari Lake, you went coast to coast. Are you disappointed with how some of the candidates did at the ballot box yesterday [Election Day]?”

Gov. Youngkin: “We always felt that we were going to work in tough races. That's why we supported folks was the fact that in Virginia, where Joe Biden won by 10, we ended up winning. And that same circumstance was presented in a number of states and that's why we chose to go work in tough races and yeah, of course, I'm disappointed that they didn't all win. [I’m] very excited about the prospects of Sheriff Lombardo winning in Nevada, and we'll see what's going to happen in Oregon. But at the end of the day, I think that voters had a real choice. And I think these were all really, really close races. A lot of incumbent Democrat governors that are hard to unseat. But I'm really excited about some of the wins that we've had. Again, it's time to come together now. And so the results of today will be finalized over the next couple of days. It looks like we might have a runoff in Georgia. But what we need to do is, now put the campaign behind us and go to work and I think that is the most important next step. Is to go to work and deliver for the folks that hired us. I'd like to thank our entire election infrastructure across the Commonwealth of Virginia, from registrars to election officials all the way to the Department of Elections for the hard work that they did to deliver a fair and rapid tabulation of results. And I think it just reflects the fact that one, we had some real challenges coming out of a legacy system that that was held together with band-aids and scotch tape, and yet they really delivered it so I just like to say thank you to that team and did an extraordinary job.”

Virginia Democrats say they are pleased they held onto two competitive U.S. House seats in Virginia.

“Part of what happened last night was a repudiation of Trump,” said State Sen. Scott Surovell. “I think also the Dobbs decision got a lot of people to turn out to vote who otherwise wouldn’t consider voting. I’ve met a lot of women and men who are very concerned that the government wants to take away women’s right to make their healthcare decisions. And I think that motivated a lot of people to vote. You saw that in Kentucky and Michigan. Those are two big drivers. Last night was a big victory for democracy.”

Surovell added that Virginia is losing more teachers than its gaining in the last 12 months which is something he and other Virginia Democrats want to address in January.

“The number one thing we need to look at addressing the learning loss that’s occurred,” said Surovell. “And trying to find a way to get our students caught back up. That also involves investing in our teachers and giving them the latitude they need in order to do their job as licensed professionals that they are. We also need to do something to recruit new teachers and help our existing teachers stay.”