WASHINGTON — President Trump is pouring money and time into turning out Republican voters in the Tuesday state elections in New Jersey and Virginia — despite drawing attention for his conspicuous non-endorsement of the Republican ticket in the Old Dominion’s governor’s race.
“Trump doesn’t endorse losers,” a GOP operative familiar with the situation told The Post as gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, currently serving as lieutenant governor, and her running mate John Reid lag badly in polling behind their Democratic opponents.
But Trump and his aides still believe it could be a good night once the votes are counted, particularly if Jack Ciattarelli pulls off an upset or comes close in the New Jersey’s governor’s race, where polls show him trailing by single digits to Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
Trump will host “telerallies” Monday night for Republicans in both states.
It’s unclear if the president will make a last-minute endorsement of Earle-Sears or Reid in the phoned-in remarks or if he will simply call for Republicans to turn out in a show of support for his agenda.
“The White House has basically written off Virginia’s governor’s race a while ago due to the bad campaign ran by Sears… the view is Earle-Sears has been particularly bad,” a source close to the Trump administration told The Post.
“I think the thing they’re most focused on is the margin in New Jersey.”
Over the weekend, Trump authorized the Republican National Committee to spend about $1 million each in both states on turnout efforts, Fox News reported.
In Virginia, the focus for Trump allies is mostly on incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares’ contest against scandal-scarred Democrat Jay Jones, who in text messages fantasized about the deaths of conservative colleague in the state legislature and his family. Trump has endorsed Miyares.
Jones also was busted driving 116 miles per hour in 2022 — a jailable offense in the state — and then claimed to perform half of his 1,000 hours of community service at his own political organization.
Polls show Miyares locked in a dead heat with Jones, which could allow the Republican to continue his legal efforts to derail the Democrat-led state legislature’s attempt to gerrymander congressional districts next year to counterbalance redistricting in GOP-led states.
The midterm congressional elections next year will determine if the final two years of Trump’s presidency feature Democratic-led investigations and gridlock for his legislative priorities.
Miyares’ re-election would also mean one less Democratic state AG suing to contest Trump policies.
At the top of the ballot, Democratic candidate Rep. Abigail Spanberger could easily become Virginia’s first female governor, if polling is accurate. Her running mate Ghazala Hashmi would be one of very few Muslims to hold statewide office.
Republicans had hoped for their own historic firsts.
Earle-Sears would be the country’s first black woman to serve as governor and Reid, a former talk radio host, would be one of the country’s most prominent openly gay officials.
Earle-Sears, however, is widely viewed as an awkward public speaker who failed to connect with voters, and her bid wasn’t helped by the fact that Reid allegedly posted white supremacist and fetish pornography on a since-deleted Tumblr account.
A different source close to the White House said “New Jersey, I guess, would be only one that I think is important.”
“New Jersey would be good wind in our sails and silence some of the doomers,” the source said.
Ciattarelli, a former state legislator, claimed 48% of the vote in 2021 against Democrat Phil Murphy, losing by a mere 3.2 percentage points.
Sherrill has been battered by questions about her role in a Naval Academy cheating scandal, for which she was barred from walking at graduation in 1994. She says she didn’t turn in the culprits.
Trump, who lost both states last November, has kept a relatively low profile — commenting much more frequently on the New York City mayoral race, where he issues near-daily denunciations of socialist Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Trump has resigned himself to “communist” Mandani winning and suggested he will help sink the Democratic brand and be “one of the best things to ever happen” for Republicans.
