A test for the nation in Virginia governor's race

Americans may not have to wait until 2022 to sense the potential for Republicans to move the nation back in a conservative direction.

The race for governor in Virginia, one of just two major elections taking place this year, could be a barometer of national sentiment.

Republicans have just nominated a dream-team ticket, combining talent and achievement with all the diversity demands of today's political marketplace.

The nominee is investor/business owner Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned for his party's nomination as a "conservative, Christian outsider." Youngkin is a wealthy man who was co-CEO of the highly respected investment firm The Carlyle Group.

On the ticket for lieutenant governor is former Marine Winsome Sears, a conservative Black woman and immigrant from Jamaica.

Running for attorney general is Jason S. Miyares, a member of the state legislature and son of a Cuban immigrant.

This conservative ticket -- pro-Second Amendment gun rights, pro-family, anti-abortion, promoting growth through lower taxes and less regulation -- advertises the truth those on the left wish to muzzle: that the conservative values that built America are not "white values" but universally true American values.

The state of Virginia is an appropriate laboratory for this test because Virginia is a poster child for the maladies of our nation.

Virginia was for years a solid red state. Virginians voted for Republicans in every presidential election from 1952 through 2004, with the exception of 1964. It has picked Democrats in every election since -- 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.

What's happening?

The population growth of the state has been in northern Virginia, which is basically a suburb of Washington, D.C. From 2010 to 2019, according to University of Virginia research, northern Virginia accounted for 66.5% of the state's population growth.

Per Washington Post reporting of a 2017 study from Old Dominion University: "Virginia's fortunes are more tied to the federal budget than those of perhaps any other state. Almost 30 percent of Virginia's gross domestic product -- its total output of goods and services -- is directly related to federal spending."

Given that government is increasingly the meal ticket for northern Virginians, it should be no surprise that Democrats -- the party of big government -- are increasingly becoming the party of Virginia.

In 2020, Joe Biden won 51.3% of the vote nationwide, and Donald Trump won 46.8%. In Virginia, Biden got 54.1% and Trump 44%.

Even among white voters nationwide, Biden got 41% and Trump 58%. But in Virginia, Biden won 45% of white voters and Trump won 53%.

In northern Virginia's Fairfax County, with a median household income of $124,831, 70.4% of the vote went for Biden and 28.2% for Trump.

As more Virginians benefit from the largesse of profligate government, they increasingly turn to Democrats, who promote this government meal ticket while advancing policies that are destroying our country.

The inflation that many have been worried about, due to excessive government spending producing record deficits and debt, is beginning to show itself in the marketplace.

Recent Census Bureau reports showing historically low birthrates mean there is an aging population -- a direct result of the collapse of family and an increase in pro-abortion attitudes and policies.

What is happening in Virginia points to the same trend nationally: more citizens getting government money and thus getting behind policies that are destroying our country.

Leadership can turn things around.

This dream-team Republican ticket in Virginia must run on principles and patriotism and against the moral and fiscal profligacy that is taking us down the path to moral and fiscal bankruptcy.

Virginia's Hispanic population has grown substantially in recent years and is now an electoral force. Hispanics are the nation's youngest demographic. They should be particularly sensitive to policies that jeopardize our future.

Sanctity of life, sanctity of family, and sanctity of ownership and markets is what Virginia and America needs for a future. For this, America needs Republicans.