After announcing that he fired Bert Ellis from the UVA Board of Visitors, Gov. Glenn Youngkin stated his intention to appoint former Virginia Attorney General and failed gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli as his replacement. In a letter to Ellis, Youngkin cited his behavior during his time on the Board as the reason for his removal.
“Your conduct on many occasions has violated the Commonwealth’s Code of Conduct for our Boards and Commissions and the Board of Visitors’ Statement of Visitor Responsibilities,” Youngkin wrote.
“I never understood why the governor thought someone who promoted a eugenics debate event as a student for UVA Black History Week was a proper nominee for our flagship institution,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said in a statement about Ellis Thursday.
Ellis has championed removing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practices from UVA during his time on the Board.
Cuccinelli, who served as Virginia’s attorney general from 2010 to 2014 and lost the gubernatorial election to Terry McAuliffe in 2013, has a controversial history in the commonwealth.
The General Assembly is tasked with approving the governor’s appointments. While it approved the majority of Youngkin’s nominations during this year’s session, it removed a few who Democrats deemed controversial.
As attorney general, Cuccinelli defended Virginia’s (now defunct) law banning same-sex marriage and investigated climate scientists at UVA.
Just last month, he published a story advocating for the repeal of birthright citizenship. He served as President Donald Trump’s acting director for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2019-2021.
“To no one’s surprise, the Governor removed one deplorable pick only to replace them with another,” Speaker of the House Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said. “His higher education appointments have been disastrous for the Commonwealth.”
It is unclear if Democrats, who hold a slim majority in both chambers, will approve Cuccinelli.
“Trading Bert Ellis for Ken Cucinnelli is kind of like trading Lauren Boebert for Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Surovell said.
Cuccinelli served in the Virginia Senate from 2002 to 2010.
After serving one term as attorney general, he then skipped over Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling to run for governor in 2013.
Cuccinelli, who at the time was considered far-right for Virginia, is the first gubernatorial nominee from the opposite party of who is in the White House to lose the race for governor in decades. Mills Godwin Jr. in 1973 was the last gubernatorial candidate to win in Virginia while his party controlled the White House.
“Ken Cuccinelli is a man of deep principle and an incredibly accomplished Virginian,” Youngkin said in a statement Wednesday night. “As a former Attorney General of Virginia, he has always stood firm for the rule of law and the values that make our Commonwealth strong.”
In a statement released through Youngkin’s office, Cuccinelli said he plans to aggressively end racial discrimination practices, indicating that he will continue the movement to end DEI.
“I look forward to the important work of reducing administrative spending to keep the University affordable for students and parents and passionately defending free speech,” Cuccinelli added.