Sears backs and has repeatedly downplayed and dismissed Trump’s job cuts
 

VIRGINIA – New reporting from the Virginia Independent details how Winsome Earle-Sears has refused to stand up to Donald Trump as he continues to attack Virginia jobs and has “repeatedly dismissed” the actions of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has orchestrated tens of thousands of layoffs of public servants, including thousands of Virginians.
 
The Virginia Independent: Earle-Sears Dodges Questions about Trump Administration Layoffs of Federal Workers

• Virginia Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears repeatedly dodged questions about whether she would ask President Donald Trump to halt layoffs of federal workers. Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor, has repeatedly dismissed as “not unusual” the actions of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has orchestrated tens of thousands of layoffs of public servants, including thousands of Virginians.
• On Sept. 30, Earle-Sears appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press Now,” before a partial government shutdown took effect at the end of the day, and was repeatedly asked by host Peter Alexander about Trump’s cuts to the civilian federal workforce and his administration’s threats to use the shutdown as a pretext for permanently laying off even more workers.
• During a federal government shutdown, workers not deemed essential are temporarily unable to work, and no federal workers are paid, but furloughs do not result in employees being fired.
• Earle-Sears has endorsed Trump’s job cuts and minimized their impact on Virginians. “How many here has ever lost a job? Oh, you mean it’s not unusual? It happens to everybody all the time? OK. And the media is making it out to be this huge, huge thing. And I don’t understand why,” she said at a March campaign event. 
• In September, she, Republican lieutenant governor nominee John Reid, and Republican state Attorney General Jason Miyares held a campaign event with former DOGE leader Vivek Ramaswamy.
• Because such a large percentage of Virginia workers, roughly 10%, are employed by the federal government, with around 320,000 Virginians working in civilian federal jobs, Trump’s DOGE cuts have hit Virginia especially hard. The state unemployment rate increased every month from January to July, going from 2.9% in December to 3.6% in July and August.

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