Democrats are saying Republican candidate for governor Winsome Earle-Sears is in violation of disclosure laws.
In 2022, then-Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger took a trip to Israel financed by the American Israel Education Foundation – a trip we know about because she disclosed it. In 2024, Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears took a trip to Israel financed by the Combat Antisemitism Movement. That trip was not initially disclosed to the public, although Earle-Sears later amended her disclosure form. Delegate Marcus Simon is a Democrat from Fairfax County who says he’s concerned Earle-Sears is accepting trips without disclosing them again.
"As of this moment, she is not compliant with the law – either the disclosure law reporting who paid for it or the FOIA requests that require a five-day response," Simon says. "I think it's been 10 and 13 days, and so far all we've heard is, ‘We're still figuring it out.’"
"We're still trying to figure it out" is the quote the Earle-Sears campaign gave to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which is reporting about new questions surrounding who is paying for her travel expenses. Republican strategist Jeff Ryer says disclosure forms are amended all the time.
"If this is the best they've got on opposition research, I'd say they've got a lot more work to do," Ryer says. "Or, there's very little to find because when we're talking about the filing of forms, and that's really what you're talking about here, it's just not something that generally moves a lot of voters."
Early voting starts in five weeks.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
