Virginia Mercury: Earle-Sears agreed to an interview but canceled on the day of and has not responded to reschedule requests and other questions.
 

VIRGINIA – New reporting from the Virginia Mercury details Winsome Earle-Sears’ extreme record supporting healthcare cuts and attacking reproductive rights. While Sears was scheduled to sit down with the Virginia Mercury, she backed out at the last minute and has refused to respond to their requests, but her record speaks for itself: 
 
“As thousands of Virginians could lose their Medicaid coverage, hospitals are also bracing for absorbing higher costs before being faced with cutting services, closing, or negotiating higher rates with private insurers. 
 
Earle-Sears previously told Newsmax that the reconciliation ‘bill does so many great things.’”
 
“During Virginia’s General Assembly session this year, Earle-Sears expressed opposition to Virginia’s in-progress effort to enshrine reproductive rights including abortion into the constitution, [...].”
 
Virginia Mercury: On the record: Winsome Earle-Sears

• The Virginia Mercury reached out to both campaigns to learn more about their priorities and how they match up with Virginians’, and to find out how they plan to accomplish their legislative goals. Earle-Sears agreed to an interview but canceled on the day of and has not responded to reschedule requests and other questions.
• As thousands of Virginians could lose their Medicaid coverage, hospitals are also bracing for absorbing higher costs before being faced with cutting services, closing, or negotiating higher rates with private insurers. 
• Earle-Sears previously told Newsmax that the reconciliation “bill does so many great things.”
• In audio obtained by Cardinal News, Earle-Sears signaled interest in tapping into Virginia’s “rainy day fund,” a reserve meant for short term use, to shore up dwindling Medicaid funding. She would have to work with state lawmakers to do so; several of them who sit on financial committees told Cardinal they would support Earle-Sears’ idea but cautioned against over-utilizing in the long-term. 
• Earle-Sears has made her stance against abortion clear during and before her gubernatorial campaign’s launch.
• During Virginia’s General Assembly session this year, Earle-Sears expressed opposition to Virginia’s in-progress effort to enshrine reproductive rights including abortion into the constitution, but has not answered follow-up questions on whether she would support the measure if its language were adjusted. 
• When signing the advanced legislation earlier this year, her duty as lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears wrote that she was “morally opposed to this bill; [...]”
• During her 2021 lieutenant governor campaign she described abortions at “genocide” and noted threat to the life of the parent-to-be as the only exception she believed the procedure should have. But closer to Election Day that year, she scrubbed anti-abortion language from her campaign website. 
• She did cast such a vote on a right-to-contraception bill, voting against it.

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