Winsome Earle-Sears embraces Trump’s tepid Va. governor endorsement: ‘The president wants me to win’

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears welcomed President Trump’s tepid endorsement of her gubernatorial campaign this week, saying he made clear he “wants me to win.”

In an interview for The Washington Times’ new podcast “Sit Downs with Alex Swoyer,” Ms. Earle-Sears discussed the role that racism has played in her campaign, took swipes at Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger’s stances on gender identity and immigration issues, and delved into her own priorities.

Ms. Earle-Sears declined to say whether, as governor, she would offer the Virginia National Guard to Mr. Trump, who has attempted to deploy troops to several Democrat-led cities where he said authorities are struggling with protests and crime.

Mr. Trump looms large over the Virginia governor’s race, with Ms. Spanberger repeatedly labeling Ms. Earle-Sears a “MAGA” adherent, even though the president had been reticent about his involvement in the race.

Speaking to reporters this week on Air Force One, Mr. Trump said he wants to see the Republican nominee win — without identifying Ms. Earle-Sears by name.

“I think the Republican candidate is very good and she should win because the Democrat candidate is a disaster,” the president said.

Asked if that was an endorsement, Mr. Earle-Sears suggested it was.

“The president wants me to win. You saw what he said,” she said. “And let me tell you something, we’re going to win in Virginia because we have the right ideas.”

Some ideas Ms. Earle-Sears highlighted as priorities: keeping the commonwealth safe, fighting crime and illegal immigration, and banning transgender use of girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.

Running amid racism

Ms. Earle-Sears also addressed a slur hurled against her at a college football game last weekend. A man was caught on video calling Ms. Earle-Sears a “traitor” and telling her to “go back to Haiti.”

Aside from his erroneous geography — the Republican was born in Jamaica and is now a U.S. citizen — she said it was not an isolated incident.

“It’s unfortunate,” Ms. Earle-Sears said. “This racism issue has come up too often.”

She recalled a summer rally at an Arlington County school board meeting, where a protester challenged her stance on transgender students’ use of bathrooms with a sign that read “then Blacks can’t share my water fountain.”

“Here I am, second in command of the former capital of the Confederate states, and really this is what we’re doing?” Ms. Earle-Sears said. “The Democrats are the ones doing it.”

She said such attacks ignore her history of joining the Marine Corps before she was a citizen and seem to be based on a stereotype about Black Americans and political identity.

“This is not what America ought to be. Just because I am a Republican does not make any difference,” the lieutenant governor said.

If elected, Ms. Earle-Sears would be the first Black woman to win a governorship in the U.S. And whether Ms. Spanberger or Ms. Earle-Sears is elected, Virginia would have its first woman governor.

National Guard deployment

Ms. Earle-Sears didn’t say whether Virginia troops should be called up to help Mr. Trump’s efforts. But she praised Gov. Glenn Youngkin, also a Republican, for sending the Virginia Guard to the border when Texas asked several years ago.

“This is not something that’s new to us,” she said.

Ms. Earle-Sears criticized Ms. Spanberger’s broader stance on immigration, pointing out that the Democrat, as a member of Congress, voted against legislation to require the Department of Homeland Security to arrest and detain illegal immigrants arrested for lower-level crimes such as theft and shoplifting.

That legislation, named the Laken Riley Act after the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student slain by an illegal immigrant who had those kinds of charges on his record, ended up passing Congress and being signed into law earlier this year, after Ms. Spanberger had departed Congress.

Polling generally shows Ms. Earle-Sears trailing Ms. Spanberger, though by a narrowing margin.

But the Republican has history as a headwind. For 50 years, Virginia’s gubernatorial election has been a protest vote against the party that holds the White House. Out of 12 elections during that time, only once — in 2013 — did the party with the White House also win the governor’s race.

Ms. Earle-Sears is optimistic that she can buck that trend, saying Ms. Spanberger is too “ill-suited” for Virginia.

“She has voted that men can be nude in women’s locker rooms and in front of our girl children, even,” the Republican said. “I asked her, ’What about your own children? Is that what you want for them?’ Silence. Crickets.”

“She is wrong and the people know that,” Ms. Earle-Sears “They are not going to pass the baton to her.”