Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears dodged several questions about President Donald Trump and his policies during an appearance on Meet the Press Tuesday.
Earle-Sears was pressed mostly on federal workers in Virginia losing their jobs due to cuts implemented by the Trump administration, but she was also asked if she needs the president’s endorsement to win, and if she would support him bringing federal troops into Virginia cities.
Troops in cities
On Tuesday, while addressing military leaders, Trump indicated that he wants to deploy the military to cities with higher crime rates to conduct training.
“I told [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military — National Guard, but our military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon,” Trump said.
Earle-Sears would not answer directly whether she would support the president sending military troops into Virginia’s cities.
“I support whatever will keep Virginia safe,” she said.
Earle-Sears was pressed multiple times for a more direct answer.
“Virginia is already safe because we know how to do this,” she responded.
Trump’s endorsement
Trump has not endorsed Earle-Sears, although sources have told Virginia Scope that they had a conversation at the White House earlier this year.
The host asked Earle-Sears on Tuesday if she needs the president’s support to win in November.
“We are winning this race,” she responded. “We are taking all of the endorsements. We are not saying we don’t want any endorsement.”
Trump policies
Earle-Sears was also pressed to reveal any of the president’s policies that she disagrees with, leading to her pushing back against the host.
“I’m running to be governor of our great commonwealth of Virginia. And if we’re talking about the president’s policies, then my goodness, did you talk to Abigail [Spanberger] about Biden’s policies that created inflation,” Earle-Sears responded.
Spanberger
With Democrats losing the White House in November, it cleared the way for Democratic gubenatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger to run more on her current agenda, rather than being tied to the national party.
She has not been without her moments of dodging questions, however, as Republicans continually press her on trans-related issues.
Spanberger avoided answering questions on the topic for months, but WJLA recently obtained a statement from her, which was lengthy and did not narrow down her stance.
Trump, by all accounts, makes this race a lot harder for Earle-Sears to win — especially if you look at Virginia’s history of only electing a governor from the same party that controls the White House only one time since the 1970s.
Election day is Nov. 4, and early voting has already started.