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We were suffering from bad pandemic policies that left too many families struggling. Our schools were among the last in the nation to reopen, and Virginia led the nation in learning loss in 4th-grade reading and math. Twenty-five thousand small businesses had closed their doors in 2021. Job recovery lagged behind nearly every other state. Violent crime had surged, with a 20-year high in the murder rate. For nine straight years, more Virginians were leaving the Commonwealth than moving in from the other 49 states.
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That was the Virginia I stepped into as governor. And it was clear that we needed a comprehensive transformation — a fundamental shift in how Virginia competes, how its government works, and how opportunity could be unleashed.
Someone recently described what has happened since as the “Great Virginia Renaissance.” I like that phrase, because it captures both the scale of the challenge we faced and the breadth of the progress we have made together.
From Day One, my focus was simple: deliver on the promises I made to Virginians and start competing and winning. Even with a divided government during my entire term, we set out with a relentless determination to change not just policies, but more importantly, outcomes.
Nowhere is that clearer than in the decisions companies from around the world have made to build their futures in Virginia.
Virginia was losing to the powerhouse states in the Southeast, especially in advanced manufacturing and the reshoring of critical industries. Over the past four years, that has changed dramatically. We have secured more than $156 billion in economic development commitments, more than the previous six governors combined. This business revival is fueling unprecedented growth across the Commonwealth, with over 270,000 more Virginians working today than when we started, 255,000 open jobs, another 85,000 new jobs on the way from those commitments, and 40,000 construction jobs.
That growth has powered everything else. State revenues have grown at an 8% compounded rate, 50% greater than the previous decade, generating $10 billion in surplus revenue and allowing us to deliver $9 billion in tax relief to Virginians. Virginia families are keeping more of their hard-earned money, while we have made transformative, record-breaking investments in areas like education, public safety, childcare, and behavioral and public healthcare.
Education was one of our biggest challenges — and one of our greatest successes. We didn’t just increase funding to record levels; we launched a transformation focused on excellence, accountability, and student success. We worked to restore parents’ voices and refocus schools to provide real pathways for meaningful careers. We brought full transparency to school and student performance with a new accreditation system and rigorous proficiency standards. We launched intensive tutoring to combat COVID-era learning loss and reshaped how reading is taught with the Virginia Literacy Act.
What a transformation it has been. Virginia is a leader in reducing chronic absenteeism and has seen a 19.6% surge in math proficiency. Statewide cellphone–free education is driving up academic performance and driving down mental health and discipline challenges. We have launched 15 new Lab Schools, and 79% of Virginia high school students now graduate with a credential or certificate — reflecting our push to ensure students earn credentials that matter for real-world opportunity. Teacher vacancies declined by 36%. We made our standardized tests harder — and Virginia’s students did better.
We also rebuilt public safety. When we came in, law enforcement officers were too often treated as villains instead of heroes. We changed that. We increased pay, strengthened recruitment, invested in training and equipment, and reaffirmed our unwavering support for those who put on a bulletproof vest every day. As a result, we’ve seen a 30% reduction in murder and led the nation in reducing fentanyl overdoses. With our second-largest state trooper training class since 1932, Virginians are coming back to this noble profession.
Just as importantly, we made government work again.
When we took office, basic systems were broken. The DMV was overwhelmed. A massive backlog of unemployment claims sat in boxes locked in storage rooms. The behavioral health system was overwhelmed. Emergency management failed Virginians in the I-95 ice storm the week before I was sworn in as governor. We rolled up our sleeves and fixed it. Step by step, we restored competence, efficiency, and accountability to make the government serve Virginians instead of frustrating them.
The lesson of the last four years is straightforward: transformation is possible. It takes relentless pursuit, clear priorities, and the courage to challenge the status quo — but it can be done.
And the results speak for themselves.
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As jobs grew, state revenues soared, funding record tax relief. In 2023, for the first time in a decade, more people moved to Virginia than left for the other 49 states. We broke into the top 10 states for net in-migration, a milestone that signals something powerful: Virginia is once again a growing state — and growing states are winning states.
Across America, states are increasingly defined as either moving forward or falling behind. Four years ago, Virginia was on the wrong side of that divide. Today, Virginia is stronger than she has ever been because we chose growth over stagnation, excellence over excuses, and results over rhetoric.
