Former Republican Virginia Gov. George Allen says that he wants people to focus on “the issues that matter” rather than the rift between Gov. Glenn Youngkin and John Reid, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
Allen — who served as the 67th governor of Virginia from January 1994 to January 1998 — said he believes the controversy over Youngkin’s call for Reid to exit the race is winding down.
“I think this is getting resolved,” Allen said in a Wednesday interview with WTOP’s Nick Iannelli. “John is resolutely clear that he is staying in the race, and that he’s our nominee, and I’m supporting the whole Republican ticket.”
Youngkin recently called on Reid to end his candidacy after the governor learned of inappropriate photos on a Tumblr account with a username matching Reid’s Instagram handle.
Last week, Reid, the first openly gay man to run statewide in Virginia and a supporter of Youngkin, posted a video response to the governor’s suggestion. Reid said he has nothing to do with the social media account, and accused Youngkin’s team of extorting him.
“I’m confident that when voters actually start paying attention to this race and the issues, they’re going to focus on ideas, issues, reforms, positions that will impact their lives and our Commonwealth of Virginia,” Allen told WTOP.
Allen said he’s worked with Reid over the years, and endorsed him immediately in February, when Reid announced his candidacy.
Asked whether Youngkin should publicly apologize to Reid, Allen said he wasn’t going to get into their personalities.
“I’m going to let Governor Youngkin make those decisions for himself,” Allen said. “This is, I know, a tough situation for him.”
In a follow-up question, Allen was asked if he had spoken with Youngkin about the tension in the lieutenant governor’s race.
“I’m not going to confirm or deny who I may have or have not spoken to,” Allen replied.
The former governor believes the controversy is slowly cooling off, and encouraged party members to look to the future.
“Folks are realizing John Reid is not back backing down, and you could argue back and forth over all the details. Going forward, I want folks focusing on the issues that matter, that actually affect their lives,” said Allen.
“Once we get through all this, all the candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general will all focus on (those issues) rather than distraction,” said Allen.
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