Virginia governor: Glenn Youngkin economic policies
Republican candidate for governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin rallies with supporters on a campaign bus tour stop in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. October 29, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Former business executive Glenn Youngkin won back the Virginia governor’s office for Republicans in part by touting his private-sector experience.
As the soon-to-be 74th governor of the state, he has several ambitious business campaign promises to fulfill. Succeeding Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam while promising a departure from the current administration on economic policy, Youngkin will try to keep the momentum going for a state chosen as the best in the U.S. for business in CNBC’s 2021 rankings.
Youngkin’s victory marks a sharp turn in a state that has leaned blue over the past decade. President Joe Biden won it last year by a 10-percentage point margin.
A political newcomer who has never held elected office, Youngkin sold himself as a businessman who can approach the Old Dominion’s hot-button issues in a new, “common-sense” way. He has argued that handling Virginia’s economy would be right in his wheelhouse.
As the state’s hotly contested gubernatorial race comes to a close, here’s what to know about Youngkin’s business background and campaign promises.
Youngkin’s business roots
Youngkin, a Virginia native and multi-millionaire, was a big player in the business world before entering the political field.
The Rice University alumnus spent his early career handling mergers and acquisitions at investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston in 1990. After obtaining his MBA from Harvard University, he spent one year at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company before joining the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, in 1995.
There, he led buyout deals in the U.K. and the firm’s initial public offering in 2012. He climbed the ranks at Carlyle and became one of its chief executives in 2018.
Before stepping down in 2020 after a 25-year tenure at the firm, Youngkin oversaw Carlyle’s real estate, energy, infrastructure and investment solutions businesses.
He steered the firm to lead the $12 billion redevelopment of Terminal 1 at JFK Airport in New York City, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the nation.
Youngkin made his business resume a major part of his pitch to Virginia voters this year.
His campaign website touts his “key role” in making the Carlyle Group one of the “leading investment firms in the world.” It claims that he played a critical role in funding the retirement of frontline public workers and supported hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
But unnamed sources from the firm have chafed over the picture Youngkin has painted of his leadership at the firm, according to Bloomberg.
Sources told Bloomberg that Youngkin racked up several bad investments that cost Carlyle billions of dollars before he “flamed out” as CEO. They cited “troubled forays” into hedge funds and energy investments over the last decade, as well as infrastructure…
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