Vote early to end Democratic obstruction in Virginia

Two years ago, Gov. Glenn Youngkin proved that Republicans can win in Virginia with a commonsense and unifying agenda. Youngkin’s winning policy platform was straightforward: Empower parents in their children’s education, let Virginians take home more of their hard-earned money, and improve public safety by supporting law enforcement and keeping dangerous criminals off our streets.

In the General Assembly, we have been proud to work alongside Youngkin to pass this agenda into law. We gave parents more control over what their children are learning at school. We delivered the largest tax cut in our commonwealth’s history — $4 billion worth of tax relief to help Virginians struggling under President Joe Biden’s inflation. And we devoted significant resources to increase pay for law enforcement and give them more tools to target gang members, drug dealers, and violent offenders.

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This progress is significant for our commonwealth and the people who live, work, and raise a family here. But make no mistake: At every possible moment, Democrats in control of the state Senate have obstructed our efforts to implement positive change for Virginians.

As senators, we have watched the Democratic majority stand in the way of commonsense efforts to lower taxes, protect children online, expand school choice, deter fentanyl trafficking, and keep those charged with rape, robbery, or murder behind bars instead of being released on bail back into our communities. One Democrat in the House is on the record praising this obstruction of our agenda in blunt terms: “We rely on the Senate to kill it all.”

That is why Republicans must flip the Virginia Senate. And we have an opportunity to do just that in a few short months.

This November, every seat in the General Assembly is on the ballot. We only need to win a handful of seats to take back the Senate, grow our majority in the House, and bring allies to the legislature who will work with us to get things done for Virginia.

Winning won’t be easy — it will require everyone to get off the sidelines and get in the game. That means embracing absentee and early voting.

Virginians do not need a reason or excuse to vote early or vote by absentee ballot. Those are the rules, and we must play by the rules as they exist if we want to win. The far Left has done this to great effect across the country, outpacing Republicans in early and absentee voting and winning elections because of it. We want to reverse that trend, starting right here in Virginia.

That’s why Youngkin launched Secure Your Vote Virginia. The website, secureyourvotevirginia.com, makes it easy to ensure your voice is heard in November’s must-win election, with step-by-step instructions for how to vote early or request an absentee ballot.

This is our answer to beat the Left at its own game. It follows a model of proven success — Youngkin ran an aggressive early and absentee voting program when he shocked the country and was elected Virginia’s governor in 2021. Now we have a chance to build on that success in 2023.

When Republicans vote, Republicans win. And if we win in November by flipping the Virginia Senate and cementing our majority in the House, we’ll finally move past obstruction and toward a brighter future for our commonwealth.

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Mark Obenshain and Ryan McDougle are Republican state senators in Virginia.