Republican gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is facing potential legal scrutiny after failing to disclose multiple trips paid for by outside organizations on her required financial disclosure forms.
Earle-Sears amended her Statement of Economic Interests (SOEI) last week to reflect participation in seven trips funded by third-party groups, despite originally certifying in February that she had taken none.
The Earle-Sears campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Virginia Scope.
Democratic activist Josh Stanfield first reported the discrepancy on May 16, highlighting a 2024 trip to Israel that Earle-Sears promoted on social media but did not list in her original filing.
On her original SOEI filing in February of 2025, Earle-Sears said she did not receive “any lodging, transportation, money, or other thing of value with a combined value exceeding $100 during the prior calendar year.”
She signed the form, swearing the information was “full, true, and correct to the best of my knowledge.”
Stanfield published his original story on May 16, revealing that Earle-Sears had not disclosed the trip to Israel. He also stated that he had sent a FOIA to her office, requesting information about the trip on May 15.
On May 22, Earle-Sears filed an amended SOEI form that now includes seven trips paid for by outside groups.
The amended filing raises questions about whether Earle-Sears violated state disclosure laws, which require public officials to report gifts, travel, and other benefits received in connection with their official duties.
Under Virginia law, enforcement of SOEI violations falls to the attorney general. But that position is complicated in this case: Attorney General Jason Miyares is Earle-Sears’ running mate as they both seek reelection in November.
Miyares’ office declined to comment for this story.
However, the law includes a provision allowing private citizens to file suit against statewide officials over disclosure violations. Stanfield told Virginia Scope he plans to do just that by filing a lawsuit against Earle-Sears in Richmond Circuit Court this week.
“I believe her amended filing, in apparent response to my reporting, is tantamount to a concession that the original filing violated the law,” Stanfield said in his report.
He added that he is not seeking criminal or civil penalties but wants a judge to determine whether Earle-Sears broke the law.
While the omissions might not have a legal impact on Earle-Sears, it lends to the narrative that her campaign has been messy.
The discrepancy has also opened Earle-Sears up to charges of hypocrisy.
“[Abigail Spanberger] doesn’t want you to know who she really is,” Earle-Sears wrote on social media last month after news broke about her Democratic opponent, Abigail Spanberger, placing her family home in a trust and not disclosing it. “She dodges tough questions, lies about her record, and even hid a $900,000 trust fund. She’s a typical politician.”
Spanberger does not appear to have violated any rules by omitting the disclosure of her home’s placement in a trust — a move that also shielded her residential address from public view.
Under House ethics rules, members of Congress are not required to disclose personal residences or non-income-producing assets held in a trust as long as they receive no financial benefit.
“Members of Congress do not need to report assets from a non-income producing trust where they are an administrator that does not receive income or have any beneficial interest in the trust,” said Delaney Marsco, ethics director at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, told The Center Square.