The surprise victory of Republican Glenn Youngkin to become the next governor of Virginia shocked the political world earlier this month. Down double digits just months prior, Youngkin surged back into the race in the final weeks, eventually defeating heavily favored Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

Youngkin didn’t make his comeback by prioritizing the normal slate of GOP issues. Rather, he focused like a laser beam on the culture war surrounding leftwing school boards and the harm they are causing to children. That strategy led to big shifts in Loudoun County and other bluish, suburban areas, with the assumption being that Youngkin was a different kind of Republican.

But one possible hire by the governor-elect has some scratching their heads.

Youngkin got elected on culture war issues about race and sex

So, Youngkin chose a guy with pronouns in his bio to do his comms who also served on the Georgetown Latinx Leadership Forum and supports virtually everything Youngkin's voters voted against

This is peak GOP pic.twitter.com/WWziJNO4g3

— Pedro L. Gonzalez (@emeriticus) November 19, 2021

It doesn’t get better. Hard to fight a culture war in Loudoun about teachers being fired for refusing to use pronouns when he’s likely running part of the Governor-elect’s Comms. pic.twitter.com/r27RV8x72C

— NoVA Campaigns (@NoVA_Campaigns) November 19, 2021

I say possible hire because I can’t actually confirm that this person currently works for Youngkin. The claim he does was made by Marin-Mora himself on election night and he included in his Twitter bio that he does “comms” for the governor-elect. But his Twitter account has now been deleted and his LinkedIn account is limited. Is he running some kind of leftwing outreach for Youngkin? Or does he serve in a broader communications role? Because the answer to how expansive his role is could provide a logical explanation.

Also, for full disclosure, Pedro Gonzalez is a “new right” populist, and not even really in the Donald Trump mode. He’s much further to the left economically, and he opposed Youngkin vehemently. So some skepticism of the source is warranted.

Still, you can’t blame Republicans for being uneasy about something like this. Joshua Marin-Mora, based on the evidence we have, is a full-blown woke warrior, down to chastising “cisgender males” and having pronouns in his bio. That is the opposite side of the culture war that swept Youngkin to victory, and that can’t be ignored here.

In the end, I don’t think this means much as far as Youngkin’s governing goes. I suspect this guy is an intern or is serving under someone else in a targeted outreach position given his age. Yet, I’m also concerned Youngkin could end up getting stabbed in the back by having someone with these kinds of views in his comms department. We’ve seen that movie before.

For my part, I’m content to wait on an explanation while keeping in mind that Virginia is not a red state. Republicans should not expect Youngkin to be Ron DeSantis. But there have to be some standards, and we’ll see how this plays out.