In this Sept. 1, 2021 file photo, Winsome Earle-Sears addresses the Virginia FREE Leadership Luncheon in McLean, Va. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
The presumptive Republican nominee for governor this fall, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, faces a brewing primary battle as she fades in the polls.
Two far-right Virginia Republicans are making moves to challenge Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears to be the Republican nominee for governor this fall.
Amanda Chase, a former Virginia state senator, and Dave LaRock, a former Virginia state delegate, are gathering signatures to get on the ballot in time for a June 17 primary.
Both candidates appear to be trying to tap into dissatisfaction with Earle-Sears’ candidacy by touting their loyalty to and support for the Trump administration.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger led Earle-Sears by 15 points in a poll released Feb. 25 by Roanoke College. A January poll had shown a much tighter race that was basically split.
Chase represented Chesterfield County in the state Senate for eight years before losing a primary challenge. She has been an ardent spreader of election conspiracy theories and she attended Trump’s January 6 rally but did not join the attack on the Capitol.
“Many in Southwest Virginia have said they will NOT support our current announced Republican gubernatorial nominee hopeful,” Chase said in a newsletter. “’She doesn’t support Trump,’ they say. And many Trump supporters said they will stay home if she’s on the ballot.”
Earle-Sears’ on-and-off support for Trump has hindered her ability to unite Virginia Republicans behind her candidacy to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is term-limited by the Virginia state constitution.
In 2022, Earle-Sears joined other Republicans in calling for the party to break with Trump and find a new leader in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. In an interview on Fox News, Earle-Sears said Trump had become a liability given candidates he endorsed underperformed Republicans he had not endorsed.
“I could not support him,” Earle-Sears said in 2022, adding, “It is time to move on.”
Earle-Sears has since said she fully supports Trump, and she has praised his administration’s attacks on the trans community. But apparently that has not been enough to clear the field of challengers.
LaRock of Loudoun County served in Virginia’s House of Delegates from 2014 to 2024 as one of its most conservative members. He once offered to give away 10 AR-15 rifles to voters and he signed onto a letter warning then-Vice President Mike Pence against certifying the results of the 2020 election. LaRock also attended the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally but has said he did not storm the US Capitol.
LaRock wants to emulate the Trump administration’s attacks on federal workers and services by creating a Virginia Department of Government Efficiency, or VaDOGE.
“While the GOP’s presumptive nominee offers platitudes and backtracks on conservative values, LaRock takes action—defending parental rights, backing law enforcement, and fighting for Virginia’s future,” LaRock’s website states.
LaRock and Chase have until April 3 to collect 10,000 signatures with 400 signatures collected in each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.
As Chase put it in her newsletter: “That’s a heavy lift.”
For his part, Youngkin, a Trump loyalist, has maintained his support for Earle-Sears.
“She is a United States Marine who knows how to fight, a small business owner who knows what it means to sign the front of a paycheck, and a proven winner,” Youngkin said in a post on X. “I will stand with her with every step of the way as our party unites and she wins in November.”
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