Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears is set to announce staff changes later this week, according to three people familiar with campaign personnel decisions \u2014 an attempt to turn things around as her campaign lags in polling and fundraising.<\/p>\n
Earle-Sears, Virginia\u2019s lieutenant governor, is attempting to become the first Black woman ever elected governor in the nation\u2019s history, and the first Virginia Republican in nearly 30 years to succeed a sitting GOP governor. Democrats and Republicans alike see the governor\u2019s race as an important bellwether ahead of the 2026 midterms and an appraisal of President Donald Trump\u2019s first few months back in office.<\/p>\n
But a recent poll<\/a> from Virginia Commonwealth University has her trailing Democrat Abigail Spanberger by double digits \u2014 49 percent to 37 percent. The latest campaign finance reports also show Spanberger with a significant fundraising advantage. Between June 6 and June 30, Spanberger raised $4.2 million<\/a> and had more than $15 million on hand, whereas Earle-Sears raised only $2.3 million<\/a> in the same period. Her campaign has $4.5 million cash on hand as of July 15.<\/p>\n With little more than 100 days until Election Day, Earle-Sears is banking on a staff shake-up to help steady the campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, this is just \u2026 refocusing for the last push,\u201d said one person close to the campaign who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely about staff reshuffling. The person characterized the move as a positive change that most staff welcomed, arguing the reports of the campaign being in peril are overblown.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Let\u2019s rip off this tabloid Band-Aid and move on\u2019 is kind of the overall vibe,\u201d the person added.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first staff change to hit the beleaguered campaign. Following mounting pressure from fellow Republicans \u2014 including some within Trump\u2019s orbit who have referred to campaign staff<\/a> as \u201camateurs\u201d \u2014 the campaign made changes, including the reassignment of her campaign manager<\/a>, Will Archer, a pastor with no political experience. (People familiar with the campaign say he will continue in a role focused on voter outreach.)<\/p>\n Richard Wagner, Earle-Sears\u2019 political director, has left the campaign, NBC News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n On top of the personnel shake-ups, Earle-Sears has run into controversy. Earlier this year the Earle-Sears campaign blasted a fundraising email comparing DEI to American slavery<\/a>, where she remarked: \u201cSlaves did not die in the fields so that we could call ourselves victims now in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, a publication called Dogwood released an audio clip of Earle-Sears<\/a> in which she appeared to acknowledge the cuts to the federal workforce negatively impacting her standing with voters, telling supporters that she and Spanberger were \u201cneck and neck\u201d before her Democratic opponent brought up DOGE repeatedly and began opening up a lead. Northern Virginia is home to a lot of federal workers who were targeted by DOGE, and in March the progressive Meidas Touch Network released a different recording in which Earle-Sears appeared to be downplaying the severity of the DOGE cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always had concerns about this race, but not because of Winsome, just because of the overall environment,\u201d said one Republican strategist. \u201cI expected to be where we are, and when I saw a lot of the DOGE activities and Elon Musk activities having a major impact on Northern Virginia, it gave me even more of a concern.\u201d<\/p>\n