Ahead of Glenn Youngkin campaigning with Paul LePage in Maine today, DNC spokesperson Elena Kuhn released the following statement: 

“After less than a year in office Glenn Youngkin is turning his back on Virginia in favor of a cross-country roadshow supporting extreme candidates. Glenn Youngkin’s trip to prop up Paul LePage and his extreme abortion positions is a reminder just how out of touch Youngkin is.”

Former Maine Governor Paul LePage has an extreme record of opposing women’s freedom to make their own reproductive health care decisions.  

Washington Post Editorial: “Maine’s governor is completely unhinged”

Maine Beacon: “‘We should not have abortion,’ LePage said in 2016.”  

And while Youngkin can’t get his answer straight on why he’s campaigning with LePage, who’s best known for his extreme record and comments, Virginia Republicans are criticizing Youngkin for gallivanting out of state.  

Washington Post: “Youngkin himself said he was unaware of any controversy about LePage’s rhetoric, which made national news in 2016 — ‘Maine’s governor is completely unhinged,’ read the headline on a Washington Post editorial […] At the same time, Youngkin indicated that he had been personally involved in choosing his out-of-state appearances, and choosy about where he stumps, noting that given his responsibilities in Virginia, he has had to ‘selectively … pick a few places to campaign.’”

Washington Post: “Youngkin’s hectic out-of-state travel schedule had drawn bipartisan criticism […] ‘I am hopeful that maybe he will intensify his focus on the commonwealth’s issues,’ Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) told reporters in August.”

LePage’s anti-choice record isn’t so different from Youngkin’s own. Youngkin told conservative activists he would happily sign “any bill” to stop abortion and he’s refused to say whether he’d back a full abortion ban. 

Washington Post: “‘Any bill that comes to my desk I will sign happily and gleefully in order to protect life,’ [Youngkin] said in an online forum organized by the Family Foundation of Virginia to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

Newsweek: “The governor said that while he believes life begins at conception, he is focusing on a way to ‘get something done,’ opting for the 15-week ban that would more likely pass in Virginia—while not giving an answer about whether he would support banning abortion in Virginia from conception.”