Speaking in Virginia at an event for the US Navy’s 250th anniversary Sunday, President Donald Trump did not mention the state’s lieutenant governor, who is the Republican nominee for governor.
It was a noteworthy snub of Winsome Earle-Sears, a retired Marine, during a speech in which Trump praised some Virginia Republicans who have served in the Navy, including Reps. John McGuire, Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans.
Earle-Sears has campaigned heavily in the Hampton Roads area where Trump spoke. And she faces a larger deficit in public polls than other Republicans running statewide in November, while also grappling with concerns from within the GOP about whether she’s running an effective campaign.
Trump earlier in the day made an endorsement on social media in a down-ballot race – backing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in his bid for reelection. The endorsement came after text messages his Democratic opponent Jay Jones sent in 2022 suggesting a colleague should be shot surfaced about a month before Election Day.
Without mentioning Earle-Sears, Trump in the same post took aim at her Democratic opponent, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, saying she has refused to acknowledge Jones’ actions, despite her statement condemning the texts.
Even as Trump has not embraced Earle-Sears, she has been characterized as a “MAGA Republican” by Spanberger in campaign ads criticizing her rival as “so far right she’s wrong for Virginia.”
CNN has reached out to the White House and Earle-Sears campaign.
Political circles in Virginia have watched closely to see whether Trump would endorse Earle-Sears given their complicated relationship. Earle-Sears served in 2020 as national chairwoman of Black Americans to Reelect Trump and campaigned on his behalf throughout the country. But in a 2022 interview, she said Trump shouldn’t run again.
“A true leader understands when they have become a liability,” Earle-Sears told Fox News then.
Trump, of course, did run a third time and won, cementing his hold over conservatives who Earle-Sears needs to turn out for the November 4 election. He met with Earle-Sears in the Oval Office earlier this year, but no endorsement came out of that meeting – and Earle-Sears has refused to talk about what they discussed.
At the same time, Spanberger has tried to make Trump a liability for Earle-Sears, tying the Republican to rural clinic closures after the passage of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” and to job losses in Virginia, which has more than 300,000 federal workers, enacted by the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Unfortunately, my opponent Winsome Earle-Sears has defended Trump’s firing of Virginia workers at every turn. And as Donald Trump threatens to enact DOGE 2.0, Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears refuses to do her job and stand up for Virginia jobs,” Spanberger’s campaign said in a statement released Friday.
Earle-Sears has made transgender policies a centerpiece of her messaging in the election, hammering Spanberger for not answering whether she agrees that trans youth should be able to use any school bathroom or play on a sports team that corresponds with their gender identity.
A Washington Post-Schar School poll released Friday found Spanberger with 55% support among likely voters in Virginia compared with 43% for Earle-Sears, fueled in part by the Democrat’s wide advantage among independent voters.
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