Youngkin didn't win. McAuliffe lost. That's not the same thing.
I'm quite glad that McAuliffe lost. That is indeed good news.
But as far as I can tell, Youngkin is just another standard-issue, garden-variety Republican.
And therein lies the problem ...
"The anti-woke electoral victories are good news. But they won’t get us far unless men like Youngkin are prepared to inflict pain on the institutions that pushed wokeness." --
Sohrab Ahmari
Unfortunately, Youngkin and men like him aren't going to do any such thing. They are pleased to benefit from the reaction against unhinged progressives, to be sure - but they mistakenly treat that reaction as if it's some kind of endorsement of themselves and their (also objectionable) policies. So they will do nothing to actually strike the root. (And why should they? After all, it helps get them elected, and gives them venues through which to exercise their own power once they've been elected.)
Rather, Republicans and conservatives reliably work to preserve and protect all the institutions and other mechanisms that the Democrats and progressives have created and exploited over the years in order to make such deep inroads into culture and power centers (Exhibit A: the Department of Education). For example, based on what little I have seen from him, Youngkin is an enthusiastic supporter of "public" education.
IOW: Youngkin,
et al. may not push the progressive agenda forward - and I suppose that's something, at least - but they'll do nothing to reverse it, either. That's exactly why we're in the mess we're in. It's why conservatism has failed so miserably (except when it comes to "conserving" whatever the progressives were doing a few decades ago).
IOOW: This is not a victory. It is, at best, a brief and limited respite. Again, that's not nothing. But it's not nearly enough, either - and it never will be.