Virginia governor urges Republicans to vote early despite Trump’s skepticism

Glenn Youngkin sees matching Democratic push to get ballots in early as key to gaining full control of senate and house of delegates

Early voting begins on Friday in Virginia, where every seat in the state senate and house of delegates will be up for grabs in some of the most consequential US elections of 2023. The process has found a somewhat surprising champion in Virginia: the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.

In previous years, the idea of a sitting governor rallying fellow members of his party to vote early would have been considered routine. But Donald Trump's baseless claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which the former president often blamed on early and absentee voting, have upended the Republican party's conventional campaign strategy. As Republicans seek to take full control of the Virginia legislature in November, Youngkin must strike a fine balance between maximizing his party's turnout without alienating the voters who remain deeply skeptical of early and absentee voting because of Trump's lies.