Virginia Republicans turn on each other after crushing losses

In Virginia, it’s Republicans’ turn to be lost in the wilderness, and they’re spreading blame for their drubbing.

Many say lackluster gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears was deeply flawed and didn’t focus enough on the economy. Some accuse popular GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin of failing to use more of his war chest to boost candidates. Others complain that the state party failed to employ an aggressive strategy — and a group of county party chairs is considering calling for the resignation of the Virginia Republican Party chair.

Basically, they blame everyone but President Donald Trump.

“They just smoked us. I mean, gosh, they wiped us off the map,” said Tim Anderson, a Republican who lost a House of Delegates race in the battleground Virginia Beach. “It's going to take four years to rebuild what happened on Tuesday.”

Anderson, who was elected to the House in 2021, said Earle-Sears’ lack of a “motivational message that excited voters to get off the couch” doomed Republicans running at every level, who were already facing political headwinds caused by DOGE-inflicted federal job losses, along with the government shutdown.

It’s a warning sign for Republicans across the nation ahead of the 2026 races, especially without Trump atop the ballot. The GOP lost decisively Tuesday in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia, including in some reliably red areas — a shellacking that signals problems for the party as Democrats turn out in droves against Trump and his policies. Democrats are simultaneously trying to move past their own intraparty turmoil and continue hammering America’s affordability problem.

“The economy was the No. 1 issue,” said former Virginia Rep. Tom Davis, a Republican. “And having people talking about trans rights and the like isn't what was moving the needle. [The message] needed to address the economy at this point, and I think the administration and Republican Congress need to give that focus to get this midterm under control.”

In the final weeks of the campaign, Earle-Sears blanketed the airwaves with ads characterizing Spanberger as being for “they/them”, echoing messaging from Trump’s 2024 campaign.

A spokesperson for Earle-Sears did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Virginia Republicans were already bracing for a tough November, given that the state’s off-year elections are traditionally a repudiation of the party in power in Washington and Trump lost Virginia by five points in 2024. Their predicament worsened when the president levied global tariffs, hurting rural areas of Virginia that rely on manufacturing and agriculture. Add to that cuts to the state’s federal workforce under the Department of Government Efficiency and the longest shutdown in U.S. history, and the party’s situation became dire.

“The majority of Virginia voters don’t like the president, and many of them have a visceral hatred for him and his governing style,” said DJ Jordan, a GOP strategist referring to Democratic voters who served as chief of staff for Jason Miyares, the attorney general who lost to a scandal-clad Democrat on Tuesday. Jordan was referring to Democratic voters.

Republicans are still unwilling to criticize Trump or his policies, but some conceded that the Democratic base was energized in opposition to the president.

“The state is a blue state, and the fact that we were running while Republicans are in the White House, history shows that that is not a recipe for success,” said a Republican strategist who was involved in the races and was granted anonymity to speak freely.

But Tuesday’s results dealt a deeper blow to the party than anticipated. Earle-Sears, who lagged in fundraising and never earned Trump’s direct endorsement, lost to Abigail Spanberger by 15 points, the largest victory by a Democrat in Virginia in decades and a bigger margin than most polls predicted. Though he fell short of victory, Miyares — the party’s best hope at pulling off an upset — brought in some ticket-splitters after Democrat Jay Jones was dragged down by a texting scandal.

“This blew past our worst case scenario of everything,” said a Republican who worked on some of the races.

In perhaps the biggest setback for the party’s long-term future, the GOP lost 13 seats in the House of Delegates, putting Democrats on a glide path to enact their agenda in Richmond — including mid-cycle redistricting to counter Trump’s push to make congressional maps more favorable to Republicans. Five of those state seats won by Democrats went for Trump in 2024, a sign of dissatisfaction among some Republican voters.

“They should have seen this coming,” said Loudoun County GOP Chair Scott Pio, who believes the party should have focused more on converting new voters than simply turning out the base. “Their strategy was quite ineffective and it shows. Now Virginia is a terribly blue state.”

Loudoun County is often considered an exurban swing county in the state.

Some Republicans’ ire extended to Youngkin, who enjoys high favorability and is prohibited by state law from seeking a consecutive term. One GOP strategist predicted that any hopes the governor has to run for president in 2028 will likely suffer because of the widespread losses.

“It’s wholly inaccurate that the governor did not spend his time, energy and significant resources on these races,” said Justin Discigil, a top Youngkin adviser.

Another cited early warning signs, like lack of a ground game and insufficient outreach to rural voters, who make up the party’s base.

“Everyone will want to blame Winsome. That's fine, if that's how they want to publicly spin,” one of the strategists said. “Everyone needs to take a serious look and realize that that is not at all the full story. The full story is we were too excited on our own brand and forgot to run a campaign up and down the ballot.”

Other Republicans dismiss any criticism that Youngkin did not do enough for the GOP ticket. He made multiple appearances on behalf of the candidates and donated close to $750,000 to Earle-Sears and $140,000 to Miyares, along with $100,000 to John Reid,the lieutenant governor whom he called on to drop out of the race over lewd photos posted online allegedly linked to him.

Pio, the Loudoun County Party chair, blamed a muddled strategy in rebuke of the state party chair, whom he is pushing to resign.

“They want to play the get out the vote game on Election Day and don't want to convert new voters,” Pio said.

Mark Peake, the chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, responded that it's not the job of the state party to set campaign strategy or run individual races — rather its purpose is to provide infrastructure, like data.

“A unit chair complaining that RPV didn't do enough to win the election — it's kind of like an offensive line coach complaining about the head coach not scoring enough points,” he said. Peake, who came into his role in April, said he has no intention of resigning.

Despite the sniping, Republicans are banking on Democrats pursuing a progressive agenda in Richmond that will alienate moderate voters.

“We can go on offense now — we can absolutely smack them upside the head every day,” said a Republican involved with the House races. “They caught the car and let's see what they do with it."