Youngkin touts strength of Virginia economy despite warning signs

Gov. Glenn Youngkin shared a rosy view of Virginia’s economy that state Democrats strongly disagreed with.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin offered a rosy assessment of Virginia’s economy in Richmond on Wednesday while unveiling his proposed budget, but Democratic lawmakers disagreed with his assessment amid growing economic warning signs. 

In a presentation of his proposed budget changes, the outgoing governor pushed back on what he called the “catastrophic predictions” and “dire prognostications” about the impact of the Trump administration’s federal cuts and layoffs on Virginia. 

“Financial calamity hasn’t happened, and Virginia is again running a significant surplus,” Youngkin told members of the Joint Money Committee. 

Youngkin’s proposed budget changes include $2.9 billion to cover the ongoing cost of Medicaid, Children’s Services Act services and children’s health care, and $103.9 million to address federal changes to the SNAP program. 

Youngkin’s budget included a 2% bonus and 2% raise for teachers and state employees; and about $750 million in tax relief as part of tax cuts made to conform to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. 

Democrats will hash out their take on the state budget in the upcoming legislative session. By that time, term-limited Youngkin will have been succeeded by Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger. 

But Democrats were quick to push back against the idea that the current state of Virginia’s economy is something to celebrate. Asked about Youngkin’s presentation, Del. Candi Mundon King (D-Dumfries) said his message was “dismissive and disheartening.” 

“As someone who represents a large contingent of federal workers who have been impacted by DOGE: they are not just numbers on a chart,” Mundon King said in an interview. “I don’t think it’s a crime to acknowledge that: that real people are being hurt and impacted.”

Economists at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service have warned that Virginia’s economy is slowing and can expect weak growth due in part to Trump’s federal layoffs. Weldon Cooper forecasted that by the end of 2025 Virginia will have lost nearly 7,600 government positions, which include federal, state, and local government employees. 

During the committee meeting, state Del. Kathy Tran (D-Springfield) said she was concerned about what she called the intentional downplaying of the impacts of federal workforce cuts on the state and Virginia families. 

Tran shared that two of her constituents lost their jobs as federal workers and are now trying to get their kids on free and reduced lunch. Tran added she knows of a couple who’ve exhausted their savings five months after one of them was illegally let go from the federal government. 

Tran pressed Virginia Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings to explain how federal cuts aren’t catastrophic for these families. 

“How do you tell these families, so glibly, that it is not catastrophic, that everything is hunky dory,” Tran asked Cummings. 

Cummings responded that he did not mean to downplay the impact on individuals and families, but that he stood by the broad assessment that Virginia wasn’t seeing the negative impact that had been expected. 

Speaking to reporters after his presentation, Youngkin said there has been a concerted effort around hoping Virginia fails and blamed the media for its role in supporting it.

“The constant desire to try to depict doom and gloom in the face of the soaring nature of the commonwealth today, I think at some point you all have a responsibility to call it out and not continue to promote it,” Youngkin said. 

But just this week, Old Dominion University released a report saying that Virginia’s economy is slowing, its workforce is declining, and the number of people who are unemployed and still looking for work has been higher for each week of this year, compared to last year.

ODU’s report said that in 2025, Virginia has seen higher unemployment even as the number of people looking for jobs has fallen. 

“Obviously he didn’t get the memo from the last election,” House Speaker Don Scott told reporters. “People are out here hurting.”