Glenn Youngkin sworn in as governor of Virginia

Glenn Youngkin (R), who beat former Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) last November in a race that captured the nation’s attention, is sworn was the 74th governor of Virginia around noon on Saturday.

“Today we gather not as individuals,” Youngkin said at the beginning of his inaugural address, before almost immediately interrupting a military flyover. “And we celebrate the sound of freedom!” he added after two jets flew over.

Youngkin, one former chief executive officer of the private equity firm Carlyle Group. “We’re going to remove politics from the classroom,” he said. “We must send our children to school 5 days a week. … To parents, I say we respect you, and we will empower you to educate your children”, Youngkin continued, wearing a massive tie with a large white flower on his lapel.

During the campaign, McAuliffe bag a lot in poll for saying in an argument with Youngkin that parents shouldn’t “tell schools what they should teach.” That blunder, along with a wave of controversial school board meetings in Virginia’s Loudoun County, has added fuel to the fierce national debate over the use of racial theory and teaching on gender and gender in American schools.

In an election that became a referendum on the Biden administration and the culture wars, Youngkin kept many distances between him and former President Donald Trump, a decision that allowed him to infiltrate the affluent green suburbs of Northern Virginia.

Youngkin took office with a divided state government: Democrats held a three-seat majority in the Senate, while Republicans controlled Congress from 52 to 48. Winsome Sears (R) was also sworn in as governor. Virginia, becoming the first woman of color to hold that office. Jason Miyares, also a Republican, took office as the Commonwealth’s first Hispanic attorney general.