(WASHINGTON) — With just two days until the midterm elections, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin believes that voters will send a “wake-up call” to President Joe Biden, electing Republicans to regain full control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Youngkin was responding to ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, who asked him in an exclusive interview: “First order of business, if Republicans take over the House and Senate, how do they work with President Biden?”
“I think the statement on Tuesday is going to be pretty clear. And I think there will be a larger majority in the House than people may have thought a few months ago,” Youngkin answered, adding that he predicts there will be a clear majority in the Senate as well.
“I hope that President Biden sees what Americans are going to say to him on Tuesday, which is ‘we’re not happy’ and we need a different agenda.”
Youngkin has been out on the campaign trail alongside several Republicans running in gubernatorial, House and Senate races.
Back in October, Youngkin made several stops in the swing state of Arizona, most notably to stump for far-right gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
“Kari Lake talks a heck of a lot about the 2020 election, falsely saying it was rigged, stolen,” Karl said to Youngkin in the interview, asking, “You don’t agree with that, do you?”
“I’ve said that President Biden is our president. He was elected our president,” Youngkin answered. When Karl followed up asking if Biden’s win was legitimate, Youngkin said it was, but shifted to pointing out that the president has “done a bad job.”
Since President Biden took office, various GOP elected officials have publicly called for his impeachment, introducing more than a dozen resolutions against him and members of his cabinet. As Karl raised the possibility of impeachment, asking if it would be a mistake to do so, Youngkin said he believes strongly “that our democracy’s better when our Congress exercises its oversight functions.”
Karl pressed for an answer, asking if he felt an impeachment of Biden was what voters have in mind. “Because I’ve been hearing that a lot,” he said.
Refusing to speculate on what kind of action fellow members of his party would take, Youngkin argued that he was a governor, not a member of Congress, with a duty to “deliver for Virginians.”
“But what Republican governors have demonstrated is they have led so much better coming out of this pandemic,” Youngkin stated. “Economic recovery, safe communities, delivering in schools, and as I’ve said, I think every state deserves a Republican governor.”
The latest forecasts from FiveThirtyEight show that of the 36 governorships up for election Nov. 8, the Republican candidate is favored in over half of those races. Republicans also have a good chance of picking up Nevada and Wisconsin, two major battleground states, and also Oregon, which hasn’t elected a GOP governor since 1982.
About half of Americans said in the most recent ABC News/Ipsos poll that either the economy or inflation is the most important issue in their vote for Congress. Nearly three out of four Republicans point to the two economic concerns as a priority, while only 29% of Democrats say the same, per the poll.
Karl asked for his thoughts on a potential re-election bid from Donald Trump as advisers close to the former president have signaled that he may be preparing to run again.
“The only timeline that anybody should be focusing on right now is the one that leads through November 8th,” Youngkin replied, adding that he is “not supporting anybody” at this time.
He also declined to indicate if he will mount a presidential bid of his own.
“This is a November 8th moment. And the reality is, folks that are talking about things beyond November 8th I think are missing the priority of today’s moment,” he said.
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