It looked, sounded and felt like the start of a US presidential campaign. “The stakes are high and the consequences couldn’t be greater,” said Glenn Youngkin in a glossy video that showed the Virginia governor walking in Ronald Reagan’s footsteps at the 40th president’s library in Simi Valley, California, complete with Air Force One and a fragment of the Berlin wall.
The ad, “It’s Time to Usher in a New Era of American Values,” was released by Youngkin in May, fuelling speculation of a White House run that never came. With Republican candidates struggling to stop the Donald Trump juggernaut, rumours that he could yet be drafted as the party establishment’s alternative have not gone away. The make-or-break moment for Youngkin could come on 7 November when Virginia goes to the polls.
