Virginia Gov. Youngkin moves to repeal state electric vehicle mandate

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is reportedly looking to an electric vehicle mandate tied to California's own environmental regulations should his party secure enough support in the upcoming legislative elections.

The Old Dominion, which was something of a Democratic bastion in recent years, is legally obligated to embrace the automobile standards created by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) due to a law passed while Democrats ran the state.

Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter told the Washington Examiner that, should Republicans topple Democratic leadership in the Senate, the law tying Richmond to Sacramento on environmental policy would become a key target for the GOP.

"It defies common sense that Democrats in Virginia have continued to outsource decision-making on energy policy," Porter said. "In a partisan fashion, Virginia's Democrats blocked Gov. Youngkin's legislative proposal this year to remove Virginia from the California model."

Republicans currently maintain control of the lower chamber and the governorship, but Senate Democrats have thus far blocked efforts to upend the current environmental regulation.

The state holds its legislative elections in the off-years and Youngkin hopes to tighten his grip on the formerly solid-blue state in November.

His name has also emerged as a potential Republican primary challenger to former President Donald Trump, though he has thus far declined to enter the crowded field.

The governor is not the only Republican to take issue with tightening automotive environmental standards. Trump, for his part, has scrutinized federal electric vehicle mandates and warned union leaders to oppose them or risk the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to other countries.

"The only acceptable policy for UAW [United Auto Workers] members should be the complete and total repeal of Biden's catastrophic EV mandate," he said earlier this month. "President Trump looks forward to doing exactly that on his first day back in the Oval Office. Union leadership must decide whether they will stand with Biden and other far-left political cronies in Washington, or whether they will stand with front-line autoworkers and President Trump."

He is slated to address striking auto workers in Michigan later this week.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.