VIRGINIA – On Friday, elected leaders and Virginians launched the Worst of Winsome Tour in Charlottesville to call out Winsome Earle-Sears for her extreme record including her support of a near-total abortion ban and her moral opposition to same-sex marriage. 

What Virginians Are Seeing:

NBC 29: Worst of Winsome Tour Calls Out Sears for Her Extreme Record

•  On Friday, she [Charlottesville Circuit Court Clerk Llezelle Dugger] spoke at the first stop of Virginia Democrats’ Worst of Winsome tour, condemning the Republican nominee stance on same sex marriage. 
• “The fact that she has put this note that she's morally opposed to it, that's concerning to me.” 
• Dugger had company, including 54th district delegate, Katrina Callsen. “If you poll Virginians, you will find widespread support for marriage equality. And so the fact that Winsome has really dug into these issues that are actually not considered controversial in our state is concerning.”

Cville Right Now: Democrats kick off ‘Worst of Winsome’ tour in front of Charlottesville’s City Hall

• A spokesperson for Earle-Sears campaign did not respond to a request for a comment.
• The tour kicked off with Friday’s event, during which speakers knocked what they said were Earle-Sears anti-reproductive rights and anti-marriage equality stances.
• Dugger, who said she issued the first same-sex marriage license in Virginia when it became legal, called marriage equality “fundamental.” 
• Dugger spoke about the five couples that were married that day, Oct. 6, 2014, and what that legal protection has meant for them and their partners and children.
• “I think the reason we’re beginning with that is, if you poll Virginians, you’ll find widespread support for marriage equality,” Callsen said. “And so the fact that Winsome has really dug into these issues that are not considered controversial in our state, is concerning.”
• Three of the speakers referenced Earle-Sears’ handwritten note that she added when signing Virginia's reproductive rights constitutional amendment last month.
• Above her signature on the bill, Earle-Sears reportedly wrote, “I am morally opposed to this bill [...].” It was one of the talking points the party officials hammered on Friday. 
• “We’re each saying it because it’s so unusual,” Laufer said during her remarks. “To say she’s morally opposed to this bill. She’s morally opposed to protecting reproductive healthcare for myself and all the other women in Virginia?”
• Deeds noted that, even if Democrats control the state legislature, Earle-Sears could – if she were elected governor – block Constitutional amendments from appearing on the ballot in Virginia.
• “Looking at Winsome Earle-Sears’ extreme record, it’s crystal clear that if she makes it to the governor’s mansion, she won’t fight for Virginians,” Deeds said during his speech as the day’s first speaker. “She’ll just push her extreme agenda forward.”

Daily Progress: Virginia Democrats kick off 'Worst of Winsome' tour in Charlottesville

• Democrats launched a new statewide tour Friday in Charlottesville blasting gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears as "so far right, she's wrong for Virginia."
• A small crowd of local Democratic voters and elected officials gathered outside Charlottesville City Hall Friday to blast Earle-Sears, the sitting lieutenant governor and the Republican nominee for governor.
• [...] the tour aims to spotlight locals in every city and county it visits — and the threat Earle-Sears poses to their ways of life.
• Friday's was gay marriage, an institution that Earle-Sears has said she is "morally opposed" to, despite the U.S Supreme Court's 2015 decision to recognize same-sex marriages and legislation signed last year by her own boss, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, protecting same-sex marriages from discrimination.
• “Marriage equality is fundamental,” she [Charlottesville Circuit Court Clerk Llezelle Dugger] said at the kick-off press conference. “And Winsome Earle-Sears wants to take it away.”
• “If you poll Virginians, you will find widespread support for marriage equality,” Callsen told the crowd in front of City Hall. “The fact that Winsome has really dug into these issues that are actually not controversial in our state is concerning.”
• According to a Public Religion Research Institute poll in 2023, 71% of Virginians support same-sex marriage — actually higher than the support nationwide, which sits at 69%, according to a 2024 Gallup poll.
• Laufer also highlighted Earle-Sears' opposition to abortion.
• After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Virginia is now the only state in the South without an abortion ban. 
• “She’s morally opposed to reproductive freedom. She’s morally opposed to marriage equality,” said Laufer. “We know that the average voter believes that these freedoms should be law.”
• The "Worst of Winsome" tour will continue to travel the commonwealth, with new stops announced in the coming days.

CBS 19: 'Worst of Winsome' tour launches in Charlottesville

• Opponents of Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, launched the "Worst of Winsome" tour at a rally outside of City Hall on Friday, highlighting the lieutenant governor's support of a near-total abortion ban and her opposition to same-sex marriage.
• "Looking at Winsome Earle-Sears' extreme record, it's crystal clear that if she makes it to the governor's mansion, she won't fight for Virginians, she'll just push her extreme agenda forward," said State Senator Creigh Deeds.
• Charlottesville Clerk of Court Llezelle Dugger, who issued the first same-sex marriage when it became legal in Virginia, said that marriage equality is fundamental.
• “The overwhelming majority of Virginians support same-sex marriage. Winsome Earle-Sears wants to take that away,” she said.
• Delegate Amy Laufer stressed the importance of women having choices.
• “If Winsome Earle-Sears has the chance, she will enact extreme restrictions on women’s healthcare and strip women of their ability to make their own healthcare decisions,” she said.

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