Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said President Donald Trump’s formal endorsement of Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the governor’s race is imminent, signaling a potential boost for the GOP candidate as she narrows the gap against Democrat Abigail Spanberger.
“There’s been conversations and I know the President supports Winsome Sears,” Gruters said during an interview Wednesday on the John Fredericks Radio Show. “Obviously we want her to be successful and so whatever we could do and we’re all in to try to help her because you’re exactly right, the gap is closed. She’s a great candidate and we’re all in behind her.”
Trump informally signaled support for Earle-Sears on Sunday night aboard Air Force One, telling reporters, “I think the Republican candidate is very good and I think she should win because the Democrat candidate is a disaster.” The president added that he watched Spanberger in a debate and added he felt she “couldn’t answer the most basic question.”
The endorsement question has dogged Earle-Sears for months due to her complicated relationship with Trump. In 2022, she called the former president “a liability” and suggested it was time for new Republican leadership. Trump later posted on social media, “Never felt good about Winsome Sears.”
However, when asked in August whether she stood by her 2022 comments, Earle-Sears noted she cast her ballot for Trump in all three presidential elections and praised his leadership on the economy and national defense.
Gruters indicated the RNC has been working to support Earle-Sears’s campaign for seven months, with boots on the ground in Virginia focused on voter registration, turnout, and election integrity.
“Our internals has her coming on strong here at the end,” Gruters said. “We’ve been on the ground for seven months there. Watley started this effort. We have boots on the ground.”
Recent polls show Spanberger maintaining an advantage, with surveys showing leads ranging from mid-single digits to double digits. However, Gruters maintained that internal Republican polling shows a tightening race.
The RNC chairman emphasized that voter turnout will be critical to victory. “We need our voters to turn out, we’ve closed the gap, Winsome has proven that she could win,” he said. “But now we need all the Virginians that believe in the low tax system to get out there and make sure that they turn out.”
The race has been shaped by two major developments: frustrations over the Trump administration’s cuts to Virginia’s federal workforce, which numbers about 320,000 employees, and controversy surrounding Democratic attorney general candidate and sitting state senator Jay Jones, who sent violent threatening text messages in 2022. To date, Spanberger has not disavowed the state senators’ texts nor demanded he withdraw from the race.
The Republican Governors Association recently provided direct financial support to Earle-Sears’s campaign, according to Gruters, who said coordination between the RNC, White House, RGA, and congressional campaign committees has been stronger than in previous cycles.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been as united as we are now,” Gruters said, noting that the party infrastructure is working together to provide resources for the campaign’s final push.
Election Day is November 4, and early voting is underway now in Virginia. Earle-Sears and Spanberger are vying to become the first woman elected governor of Virginia.
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Christina Botteri is the Executive Editor of The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on X at @christinakb.
Photo “Winsome Earle-Sears” by Winsome Earle-Sears.
