Former House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) is running to be Virginia’s next governor.
Who is Kirk Cox?
The long-time Republican leader and retired public school teacher of three decades made his bid official on Tuesday after teasing the announcement on social media in August.
In an interview with 8News, Cox said he decided to run after witnessing several months of Democratic control in Virginia. He pledged to fight back against cancel culture, elitism and big-government mentality. Cox specifically pointed to higher taxes, clean energy policies that could result in increased bills and recent police reforms as evidence that the state needs to elect new leadership in 2021.
“When it comes to excessive use of force, yes we have to deal with that responsibly but that is not what we did,” Cox said. “We ended up with a series of bills that were extremely anti-law enforcement.”
Cox has also been critical of the how Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has handled the coronavirus pandemic, blaming him for problems with unemployment benefits, “unclear” business restrictions and various mandates that he considers executive overreach.