Trump’s shadow hangs over Virginia as Republicans try to win without him

ROANOKE, VIRGINIA – As Winsome Earle-Sears closes out her bid for governor, the loudest voice in Republican politics is the one going unmentioned.

At the Shenandoah Club in Roanoke on Monday, Earle-Sears stood before rows of supporters beneath a blue backdrop reading “Common Sense, Not Nonsense.” She railed against Democrat Abigail Spanberger over taxes, energy policy, and crime, casting the race as a fight for Virginia’s future and warning voters to “make the darkness tremble.” She invoked faith, family, and the American dream, but never once mentioned President Donald Trump.

The same omission came earlier in the program from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who urged voters to “get ten friends to the polls” and described the election as a “fork in the road” between “light” and “dark.”

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