BUCK: We’re now joined by the newly taking-the-governor’s mansion governor, of course, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. He is just beginning and doing some great stuff in Virginia. Governor, thanks for being with us.

GOV. YOUNGKIN: Well, it’s great to be with you.! Thanks for having me back. Last time, I was still candidate, and it’s just awesome to speak with you as governor.

BUCK: I’m just gonna tell you, I’m not gonna say it’s a coincidence, but you come on the Clay and Buck show, good things happen, Governor. So we’re happy to have you. Thank you so much. You’re doing some big things right out of the gate. Mask mandates in schools, top of what we’ve been doing here on the show watching from outside of your state. Tell us first about how that fight is going to allow parents the right to free their children’s faces from the cloth.

GOV. YOUNGKIN: Well, it’s… I think we’ve put things to bed here with bipartisan legislation that was signed into law last week, giving parents the right to make a decision about whether their children wear a mask or not. We’ve been talking about this for a year, and the fact that parents absolutely have a fundamental right to make these decisions — and if school boards have mandates, parents have to be able to opt out. That’s what the legislation says, and I believe that if parents want to have to their child wear a mask, then they should be allowed to do so.

But also if parents don’t want their child to wear a mask, if it’s in their best interests not to do so, they should be able to make that decision too. This is about liberty and freedom. And I think this is why we won last November, is Virginians — not just Republicans, but independents and Democrats — really felt strongly that it was time for us to get back to some of our core, fundamental beliefs and the rights of the people and liberty and freedom. And we’ve gotten started really with a bang here.

I’ve been very excited about getting taxes down and standing up for parents’ rights and reestablishing expectations of excellence in schools as opposed to watered-down expectations, and getting law enforcement funded and standing up for our community safety and, “Oh, by the way, let’s go create some jobs,” and recognize that the more jobs they are, the more opportunity there is, and we gotta get regulations down and jobs up. And so it’s been a busy, busy, first five weeks but, boy, we’re having a great time.

CLAY: Congratulations on the win, Governor Youngkin, and you have done a heck all of job, and I know many of our listeners out there have been very proud to see you follow through on many things you said you would do which is sometimes rare in politics. I want to ask you a big picture. We’ve got next week the State of the Union Address. It’s not very far to the midterms. You were a little bit ahead one year with the election in Virginia of where the nation might be headed.

What do you say to everybody out there who looks at your success in Virginia and wonders how much of it was unique to your commonwealth there, and how much of it was part of the larger atmosphere that exists in this country right now? What would you say to other people getting ready to run coming up on 2022 that you learned based on your campaign?

GOV. YOUNGKIN: Virginia is very much a microcosm of the nation. We have, yes, a lot of Republicans but a lot of Democrats, but we have a ton of independents. And I think so many of the emotions and, oh, by the way, policies that people felt so strongly about this past year in Virginia absolutely are emotions and policies that the nation is focused on right now. And it has everything to do with individual liberty and rights, and let’s just start with education.

And historically I think that Republicans might not have been the party to look to for education. When you get right down to it, we are. We stand for choice. We stand for parents’ rights. We want excellence. We want kids to be thought how to think, not what to think. One of the things we’re working on in Virginia is a lab school initiative so that we can partner with universities and colleges and do it within the public school system.

So parents can choose to send their children to an alternative school called a lab school that has a different curriculum that can prepare their child for college or for a career. But I’m also very, very aware of the fact that public safety is a huge issue across the nation, crime rates have been soaring — and last year we ran on a deep, deep focus on making our communities safe again. Funding law enforcement, equipment, training, salaries, getting more law enforcement on the streets so that in fact we can keep our communities safe.

But also recognizing we’ve gotta rebuild relationships, and that’s why we’ve been pushing so hard on some special programs to help rebuild relationships. And finally, at the end of the day, all Virginians — and I think Americans — are recognizing that taxes at the state level in Virginia are too high. Inflation is running away, just rampant. And what governors can do is get taxes down. Prices are up. That’s just policy mistakes in Washington.

But we are able to do everything at the governor’s level that we possibly can around taxes. And that’s why we’re so focused on getting taxes down. So the basics of getting the cost of living down, improving education, making our communities safe and creating more jobs. And then, finally, we have been so focused on making government work for us and not telling us what to do all the time, having a government that’s best in class, getting the backlog of unemployment claims down, making our DMV work, having government that’s responsive to its bosses. So I think these are really, really universal issues across the nation, and I think that Republicans will do really well this year if we keep listening to our customers and delivering for ’em.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. And, Governor, you’ve come out of the gates doing things that — as Clay pointed out — you promised to do; so you’re already taking those actions. How do you think in your state, just to get a sense of it. You just won — congratulations — so you’re just starting your term as governor, but there’s obviously gonna be a very contentious midterm election coming up. How do you think, based on what you know of Virginia’s politics as a purple and previously, until this most recent election, trending-blue state, things are looking in Virginia for the Republican Party? ‘Cause that might be an indicator of how it will go in other contested areas of the country.

GOV. YOUNGKIN: Yeah, I believe that voters in Virginia expressed a strong view that individual liberties, low taxes, better education, safe communities, are top of mind. And I think that Virginia’s voters reflect America. And I think that Republicans staying focused on these issues will do incredibly well this year, incredibly well. You know, states led by Republicans have just done so much better. We’ve done better economically. We’ve done better in job creation. We’ve done better in education metrics.

We’ve done better managing covid. This is a moment where the leadership of Republicans has been strong. And what we’ve seen, of course, is, unfortunately, weak leadership out of Washington, at a time when we need strong leadership, at a time where we see geopolitical issues really on the forefront — and they’re on the forefront because we’ve had weak leadership. And I think that Americans are ready for that basic principled leadership of small government, of a strong national defense, low taxes, empowering people, and recognizing that this is a moment to actually lean forward and not step back. We can do incredibly well this November.

CLAY: Governor, you’re across the Potomac River from a guy who has a lot lower approval ratings right now than you do in Joe Biden. He’s got the State of the Union coming up. He probably won’t listen to you, because he’s making all the bad decisions, but you’re close. What would you tell him, olive branch, he should have in the State of the Union based on what you are hearing and seeing in your state? What do people want?

GOV. YOUNGKIN: Well, I think it’s time to recognize that the state of emergency that is existing in covid —

CLAY: Amen.

GOV. YOUNGKIN: — it is a time to end. It’s a time to end. And we can get back to normal. And this is what we’re seeing in Virginia is when we give people the ability to make decisions over their own lives and they can see a path back to normal, so many of the things that have worked against economic recovery, against basic happiness can in fact we can recover from. Let’s be serious. We’ve got a crisis of behavioral and mental health in this nation and in Virginia.

And so much of it is because we have seen lockdowns extended longer than they ever should be, and we’ve seen mandatory mask policies with hesitancy to remove them. Listen, the science and the medicine is telling us from so many experts that it is time. And so that is the number one thing that I think our president could do is relinquish, relinquish the stronghold he’s got on so many parts in America by extending this state of emergency.

I think the second thing he needs to do is lead. It’s a time we cannot have weak leadership, and we’re seeing the results of weak leadership all around the world, but we’re also seeing it at home. And it is time to make sure that we have distinctive decisions made around how we’re feeling. The fact we pulled out of Afghanistan the way we did, the fact that we have had weak sanctions responses to Russia and their aggression in the Ukraine only exacerbates these circumstances because they know the United States is not responding strongly anymore. We’ve gotta show leadership. So those two things, in my mind, should be at the top of his list, and I hope he would listen.

BUCK: Governor, thanks so much.

CLAY: Glenn Youngkin, governor of Virginia, we appreciate the time. Congratulations on the win and thank you for fighting and winning so many battles that matter so much to the people in your state and around the nation. Thanks for joining us.

GOV. YOUNGKIN: Guys, thank you for having me. Have a blessed afternoon.

BUCK: Thanks.

CLAY: That is Glenn Youngkin.