Will President Trump weigh in on Virginia's gubernatorial election?

Will President Trump make an endorsement in Virginia's race for governor?
 
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he would probably endorse Republican candidate for governor Winsome Earle-Sears. But that is not a formal endorsement, at least not yet. The two have had a strained relationship dating back to 2022, when Earle-Sears said she believed it was time for him to step away from politics. Republican strategist Chris Saxman says that's all water under the bridge.

"He has been very forgiving of JD Vance and Marco Rubio and Lindsay Graham and any number of Republicans who weren’t exactly Trump fans at some point to kiss and make up," Saxman says. "It's one of his strengths, quite frankly."

Earle-Sears snagged the Republican nomination without a primary, so Trump did not have an opportunity to weigh in when the party was selecting a candidate. Republican strategist Jeff Ryer says an endorsement from Trump now would not make as much of an impact as it would have if Earle-Sears was in a primary fight against Amanda Chase or Dave LaRock.

"I don't know whether it's a key ingredient to the Sears campaign at this point any more than if Kamala Harris were in the White House right now it would be a key ingredient of the Spanberger campaign," says Ryer.

So far, the Earle-Sears campaign has been struggling. Her poll numbers show she's running behind Democrat Abigail Spanberger, and her fundraising numbers have been lackluster. So, a formal endorsement from Trump might be the kind of shakeup she needs to change the narrative heading into the fall campaign season.

Earle-Sears' Democratic opponent, Abigail Spanberger, continued to try to tie her to Trump. On social media, Spanberger wrote that Earle-Sears "seems to be working harder to earn that endorsement than she is standing up for Virginia's families...."

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.