Virginia ain’t the Best State for Business anymore: Thanks, MAGA

I’ve been waiting all day for the press release from the office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin touting Virginia once again being named the Top State for Business by CNBC.

Hold on, just now being told, we’re not #1 this year.

That’s probably why we’re not hearing anything from the MAGAs.

Which is weird, because, #4, that ain’t bad.

The hard part here: North Carolina is #1.

What do they have that we don’t, aside from a Democratic governor?

“As the next governor of Virginia, I will make it a top priority of my administration to make sure Virginia is the best place in the country to start or grow a business, and I will put a plan in place on Day 1 that is clear-eyed about the challenges and opportunities ahead,” said Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic Party nominee for governor.

The challenges are clear: starting with, more than 300,000 Virginia jobs are direct federal government or government contractor jobs.

The Trump administration, with the enthusiastic backing of our current governor, Glenn Youngkin, a MAGA-lite, and the lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, who is the Republican nominee for governor, is slashing federal and federal-adjacent jobs left and right.

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ICYMI

• Virginia jobless rate ticks up, and Youngkin, Earle-Sears, have no answers
• Youngkin fiddling while the Virginia economy is going down in flames
• Youngkin vetoes paid family and medical leave, sick leave, minimum-wage bills

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Our unemployment rate ticked up in May, as hiring is slowing, a factor of the uncertainty caused by the on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again Trump tariffs.

“Virginia’s slip in CNBC’s Top States for Business ranking once again highlights that the chaos and uncertainty caused by President Trump’s tariffs, the slashing of federal funding, and the politicizing and hollowing out of the federal workforce are gut punches to Virginia’s economy,” U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a statement.

Kaine has been leading the doomed effort in the U.S. Senate to have Congress assert its oversight over tariff rates, the effort hamstrung by the unwillingness of congressional Republicans to show anything resembling a backbone when it comes to Trump’s whims.

We certainly don’t get any backbone from Youngkin or Earle-Sears, whose muted response to the evisceration of the federal workforce has been the creation of a website to list job openings in the Commonwealth.

Helpful.

“Unlike my opponent in this race, I won’t dismiss threats to our workforce, our economy, and Virginia’s reputation,” Spanberger said. “As governor, I will always stand up to reckless policies that hurt our ability to attract new investments and retain our talent. And I will make sure businesses looking to come to Virginia know, without a doubt, that they have a reliable, productive, and steady partner in the governor’s office come January 2026.”