Virginia’s Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, is facing widespread mockery after his latest attempt at virtue signaling went awry; confusing one black woman for another as he texted State Senator Louise Lucas to congratulate her on a Black History Month speech. Unbeknownst to Youngkin, the speech was actually delivered by fellow State Senator Mami Locke. Youngkin has quickly apologized for the racial faux pas, leading to even more online mockery after the situation went viral.
According to a series of tweets from Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas, a Black Lives Matter-aligned Democrat who was once charged with felonies for her part in the destruction of Portsmouth’s Confederate Monument, Governor Youngkin sent her a text message congratulating her for a Black History Month speech that was actually delivered by State Senator Mami Locke. Locke, like Lucas, is a high-ranking State Senate Democrat, and a black woman.
While Lucas says she initially corrected Youngkin and sent him on his way, she later decided to publicize her version of events online after she grew unhappy with the Governor for siding with his own party on issues in the legislature, turning to Twitter to make the exchange known.
“I want to thank @GovernorVA for his text message this week, congratulating me on my excellent speech on Black History Month” Lucas posted to Twitter after the legislative squabble. “I appreciate the effort, but that speech was actually given by @SenatorLocke,” Lucas went on, attaching a photograph of the two ladies to her Tweet and telling Youngkin to “study the photos” and learn to tell the difference.
I want to thank @GovernorVA for his text message this week, congratulating me on my excellent speech on Black History Month.
I appreciate the effort, but that speech was actually given by @SenatorLocke.
Study the photos and you will get this soon! pic.twitter.com/kxIGzxFsuT
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) February 11, 2022
While Lucas hasn’t posted a screenshot of the text exchange, an aide reportedly provided a copy of the messages to The Washington Post, who published them in print form. In the messages, quoted from The Washington Post below, Youngkin apologized personally to Lucas immediately after being corrected, saying he would send “a note” to Senator Locke, congratulating her on the speech that employed far-left, Black Lives Matter talking points from beginning to end.
“Senator – I watched your floor speech discussing Black History Month today, and I was moved by it. Thank you, Glenn,” Youngkin’s message to Lucas read, according to The Post.
“Governor Youngkin, thanks for the compliment about the Black History Month Floor Speech but, it was given by Senator Locke. You are correct it was a moving speech. I hope to be enlightening when I speak later this week. Louise,” Lucas responded.
“Goodness … so sorry about the confusion. I will send her a note. Thanks for the note back!” Youngkin’s response read.
Youngkin seemingly hoped to save face by issuing a quick public statement on the matter, claiming that he had been doing “too many things at once” while watching the speech, and assuring the public that he had immediately apologized to Senator Lucas, leading to even more ridicule from grassroots conservatives online, who are accusing him of bowing down to the radical left and their evermoving racial goalposts.
“I had the floor speeches on while doing too many things at once earlier this week,” Youngkin said in his statement. “I made a mistake and I apologized to Senator Lucas right away.”
Youngkin has been universally mocked in the aftermath of his virtue signalling failure, spawning countless memes, many of which have been retweeted by Senator Lucas herself.
Who did this?
pic.twitter.com/PPumiMUf9p
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) February 12, 2022
Lucas has recently become the Virginia State Senate’s newest Twitter star with the help of controversial Democrat adviser Ben Tribbett. As recently reported by National File, Tribbett, who works with some of Virignia’s most prominent Democrats, including 1/6 Committee member Rep. Elaine Luria, called maskless schoolchildren “dickheads” in a Twitter tirade against parental rights and suggested teachers give them lower grades as punishment for showing their faces. Previously employed by the Washington Redskins football team for the purpose of defending their controversial former nickname, Tribbett was fired from that organization after he posted a series of racist tweets directed at American Indians, including one in which he joked about “scalping” a man he called “chief.”