LEESBURG, Va. — Virginia Republicans rallied behind Governor Glenn Youngkin's "parental rights" messaging ahead of Tuesday's general election in the Commonwealth.
"No more are we going to make parents stand outside of the room. We are going to put them at the head of the table in charge of our children's lives," Youngkin told the crowd gathered at Segra Field in Leesburg.
Governor Youngkin made a stop in Loudoun County in an effort to get votes for Republican candidates Geary Higgins and Juan Pablo Segura. Higgins is vying for the House of Delegates' 30th District seat against Pastor Rob Banse. Segura is facing off in the Senate's 31st District against Democrat Russet Perry.
"We are going to hold the House and flip the Senate," Youngkin repeated throughout the night.
All 40 state Senate seats and 100 state House seats are on the ballot, but the balance of power will likely be determined by a handful of competitive districts.
Youngkin and his administration is betting that his all too familiar "parents matter" message will resonate in Loudoun County that is credited for starting the movement that is rooted in grievances over schools' handling of the pandemic, and cultural divides over race, sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Whoever thought we would be arguing about whether parents should be involved in the decisions about their children in school," Higgins told the crowd.
Some voters like John Desser say they were ready to leave Virginia, but it was Youngkin's approach to education that convinced them to stay in the Commonwealth. "My wife felt very strongly that the schools in Virginia were failing us," Desser told WUSA9. He says his daughter is among the students that have walked out of school protesting gender policies.
"We have a big crisis at schools with the fentanyl issue," Youngkin supporter Astrid Gamez told WUSA9.
To date this school year, Loudoun County Public Schools has reported 10 suspected overdoses across six high schools. In comparison, four incidents required naloxone administration to students during the entire 2022-23 school year. The 10 students were taken for treatment of symptoms related to a suspected opioid overdose and four of those 10 students had one or more doses of Naloxone (Narcan) administered (three students at Park View High School and one student at Dominion High School.)
Segura says transparency in schools is his top priority. "The first thing I am going to do in Richmond, my first bill I'm going to promote, is a parental notification law. Where if there is a major event that happens in a school like an overdose, parents will have to be notified within 24 hours," he added.
Youngkin called on voters to elect a new Loudoun County School Board after criticizing the members for what he says is a lack of transparency.