In a sign of just how awful election night results will likely be for the Republican Party in Virginia, President Donald Trump on Monday could not bring himself to endorse his own party’s nominee for governor in the state.
Trump held a virtual rally for Virginia Republicans in which he heaped praise on Republican attorney general nominee Jason Miyares, but said not a single word about Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP’s pick for governor.
“Get out and vote tomorrow for Jason Miyares, very—so important—and the Republicans up and down the ballot,” Trump said, on the Virginia call, according to NBC News.
New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli
That was very different from a tele-rally he held the same night for New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, whom he praised and urged New Jerseyans to vote for.
“You need to go out and vote for Jack Ciattarelli, who’s a great guy, a friend of mine, a great guy, a very successful man, who wants to put all of his efforts now into really saving New Jersey, making it great again, saving it,” Trump said on the brief call, according to NBC News. “And he’s going to do it. He’ll be able to do it. The polls are looking really good.”
On Monday, Trump also made dozens of endorsements on Truth Social for other Republicans, most of whom are running for Congress a year from now.
In fact, Trump on Monday even endorsed former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral election, yet couldn’t bring himself to say anything about Earle-Sears.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
Indeed, the only time Trump has ever spoken about Earle-Sears was in a Truth Social post two years ago when he crapped on her for not endorsing his presidential campaign.
Trump wrote in 2022: “Never felt good about Winsome Sears. Always thought she was a phony. Now I find out she is. When I helped Youngkin with his race, Endorsed him, and made a Statewide TeleRally with hundreds of thousands of people on the call, he wrote me a very nice letter thanking me for the help, and then went on to say, ‘How to win without Trump.’ MAGA showed up big, but wasn’t appreciated. Sorry, Winsome, and Glenn, but we can’t let that happen!”
Earle-Sears—a far-right extremist who has made attacking transgender kids the focus of her campaign rather than affordability—is expected to lose handily on Tuesday. Her views are far outside the mainstream, including her belief that same-sex marriage should be illegal, that abortion is “genocide,” and even said she was “glad” that Trump fired thousands of federal employees—many of whom live in Virginia.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger
Polls show Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger with an 11-point lead on Earle-Sears, according to a polling average from FiftyPlusOne, a polling aggregator run by former FiveThirtyEight staffers. So the biggest question out of Virginia on Tuesday is not whether Earle-Sears will lose, but whether she will lose by a historic double-digit margin.
The fact that Earle-Sears is about to fail spectacularly is likely why Trump won’t endorse her, because he doesn’t want the stink of loser on him.
In New Jersey, meanwhile, Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill is favored, leading Ciattarelli by an average of 6 points, according to FiftyPlusOne. However, it’s the only race where there is any chance at a GOP upset.
Polls in Virginia close at 7 PM, while polls in New Jersey close at 8 PM.
