Sears: “Just DOGE, DOGE, DOGE, DOGE and Trump and DOGE and Trump. And so then I started down six points.”
VIRGINIA – New reporting from the Dogwood uncovered audio from an event where Winsome Earle-Sears complains about Donald Trump’s attacks on Virginia jobs harming her campaign as she refuses to stand up for the Commonwealth’s economy and Virginians’ livelihoods. In the audio, Sears says “just DOGE, DOGE, DOGE, DOGE and Trump and DOGE and Trump. And so then I started down six points. Dropped me six points in January.”
Sears previously was caught on tape downplaying and dismissing the attacks on Virginia jobs: “the media is making it out to be a huge, huge thing… and I don’t understand why.” Sears also said she would help Trump “get the job done” and that she’s “supporting what the President is doing.”
“Winsome Earle-Sears has made it crystal clear that she isn’t concerned about Virginians’ jobs or Virginia’s economy as she supports Trump’s attacks. Instead of complaining about how DOGE’s threat to Virginia will harm her politically, Sears needs to actually stand up for Virginians,” said DPVA Spokesperson Maggie Amjad.
Dogwood: AUDIO: Earle-Sears said Trump, budget cuts hurt her campaign
- In audio from a June event in Virginia Beach, Earle-Sears blamed Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency for her unpopularity.
- Winsome Earle-Sears has embraced President Donald Trump’s unpopular federal cuts, [...].
- Earlier this month, Earle-Sears, Virginia’s lieutenant governor and the Republican nominee for governor this fall, told the conservative station Newsmax TV that Trump’s massive policy bill that’s expected to take away health care from hundreds of thousands of poor and middle class Virginians “does so many great things.”
- Those comments followed others in which she downplayed the pain of laid off federal workers, saying she doesn’t understand why, “The media is making it out to be a huge, huge thing,” and telling workers, “Don’t despair.”
- But previously unreported audio obtained by Dogwood shows that Earle-Sears understands the challenge her campaign faces in aligning with an unpopular president advancing policies that are putting Virginians out of work and threatening their health care.
- In audio from a June event in Virginia Beach, Earle-Sears blamed Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency for her own unpopularity.
- “She was throwing that on the left and right,” Earle-Sears said of Spanberger, who has made Earle-Sears’ support for Trump a sticking point of the campaign. “Just DOGE, DOGE, DOGE, DOGE and Trump and DOGE and Trump. And so then I started down six points. Dropped me six points in January.”
- Virginia, of course, is home to hundreds of thousands of people either living or working for the federal government, and Trump’s cuts have taken a significant toll. Virginia’s unemployment claims for the week ending July 5 were up 33% compared with the same time a year ago.
- Other state and local leaders are also raising alarm bells about Trump’s federal cuts.
- Dogwood shared the June audio with the Earle-Sears campaign prior to publishing it with this story. The lieutenant governor’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
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