Anger at Youngkin's strategy fueling Virginia House GOP leadership fight

Anger at Youngkin’s strategy fueling Virginia House GOP leadership fight

By Laura Vozzella
November 11, 2023 at 7:02 p.m. EST

RICHMOND — A group of Republican legislators, angry with Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his political team for spotlighting a 15-week abortion ban ahead of Tuesday’s elections, said they will try to overthrow House Speaker Todd Gilbert for failing to push back against a strategy that they say cost the GOP control of the House, according to three delegates involved in the effort.

At a closed-door meeting in Richmond on Sunday, just days after Democrats flipped the House of Delegates and held onto the state Senate, House Republicans plan to elect their caucus leadership. As speaker, Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) was in line to become minority leader given his party’s loss of the majority.

But some Republican delegates want to remove Gilbert from leadership, saying he should have rebuffed Youngkin and leaders of the governor’s Spirit of Virginia political action committee, which in late September launched a $1.4 million TV campaign based on the governor’s plan to ban most abortions after 15 weeks.

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