Leaves GOP gubernatorial field clear for Earle-Sears
Kate Andrews //November 18, 2024//
Leaves GOP gubernatorial field clear for Earle-Sears
Kate Andrews // November 18, 2024//
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares declared Monday he will run for a second term in 2025, leaving Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears a clear path to the Republican nomination for governor.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is prohibited by state law from serving consecutive terms as governor, endorsed both candidates following Miyares’ announcement. A former Virginia Beach delegate and son of a Cuban refugee, Miyares is the first Hispanic person elected to statewide office in Virginia. He defeated Democratic incumbent Mark Herring in 2021’s GOP sweep of Virginia’s top three statewide offices, along with Earle-Sears and Youngkin.
Miyares will likely face either former state Del. Jay Jones or Shannon Taylor, Henrico County’s commonwealth’s attorney, on the Democratic side.
Earle-Sears announced in September her candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor, following U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s declaration in November 2023 that she would seek the Democratic nomination. Miyares was also rumored to be considering a bid for governor, but his announcement Monday keeps Earle-Sears, the state’s first Black woman and immigrant to serve in a statewide office in Virginia, from having to run a potentially expensive primary campaign to win the GOP nomination. Spanberger is unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
“In 2021 Winsome, Jason, and I ran as a team, and we have served Virginians as a team,” Youngkin said in a statement endorsing Earle-Sears and Miyares. “In 2025, Winsome and Jason will once again lead the Republican team as candidates for governor and attorney general. Both have been indispensable partners to advance our shared, commonsense conservative policies that have made Virginia the best state in America for business, backed the blue and cracked down on crime, stood strong for our military and veterans, and transformed education by raising teacher pay, re-establishing academic excellence, and empowering parents in their child’s education and life.”