I spoke to NBC‘s Alex Seitz-Wald about Governor Glenn Youngkin’s decision to oppose a battery manufacturing facility planned by Ford in partnership with a Chinese company.
“There’s a logic to the politics of Youngkin’s decision,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist and lobbyist. “It tracks with the prevailing tough-on-China sentiment within the party, showcasing a pugilistic side the base craves but that’s otherwise absent from his persona, and seeks to turn a potential vulnerability — Youngkin’s business dealings — into an experience that informs his stance.”
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“The governor’s record was largely spared from Romney-style attacks on private equity in 2021,” added Donovan, referring to the issue that helped sink Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. “But foes will seek to exploit it as he seeks the national stage, and he is smart to define his career preemptively and on his own terms.”
Read the full piece here.
While it didn’t make the story, the first point I made was that Youngkin has an argument on the merits–“reports indicate that Ford and CATL were organizing their partnership specifically to tap federal incentives while getting around restrictions designed to keep foreign entities of concern out of the supply chain.”