As she spoke in support of her campaign for governor Sunday evening at an event in Caroline County, Lt. Gov Winsome Earle-Sears touched on many of the concerns Republicans have espoused in recent years.
Earle-Sears quipped about the unfairness of transgender women playing female sports and told the approximately 200 supporters who packed Roma’s Italian Restaurant and Pizza in Bowling Green that her most likely challenger in November, Democrat and former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, wants “to get in your wallet” by raising taxes.
She also offered her thoughts on the purge of federal workers currently taking place under the leadership of President Donald Trump.
“I am glad that President Trump is getting to the bottom of all of this,” Earle-Sears said of the president’s efforts to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
In a brief interview with the Free Press after her speech, Earle-Sears made it clear that she supports the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the advisory agency headed by billionaire Elon Musk under the president’s direction.
While many Virginia residents are concerned about the impact of the layoffs of federal employees who contribute to the state’s economy — particularly in Northern Virginia — Earle-Sears said it is important for the federal government and DOGE to research how every tax dollar is spent.
“We know that we do want people to be employed,” Earle-Sears said. “That’s a given. What we want to know is how are we spending the taxpayers’ money, who is spending the money, are there programs that are duplicative that are spending that money and is there a better way to spend the money? So, I think based on that, as a business, that’s what we do.”
More than 144,000 federal workers live in Virginia, and the House of Delegates recently formed a bipartisan committee, that includes Del. Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg), to study the effects of federal budget cuts on the Virginia economy. The bulk of the federal workforce in the state lives in Northern Virginia, the region that accounts for approximately 40% of the state’s revenue.
Earle-Sears touted the Virginia economy under her boss, current Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Fired federal workers, she said, should apply for private sector jobs in the Commonwealth. She noted that Marble Systems, a manufacturer and distributor of stone products, invested $9.7 million to expand operations and created 59 jobs in Caroline. She also mentioned World Class Distribution, which is now the county’s largest employer with more than 1,000 workers.
Earle-Sears cast Virginia as an “angel investor” — a term used to describe an entity that will invest in early-stage startups or small businesses, providing funding at a point when other resources might not be available.
“If you come to us with an idea, we will invest in it, we will train your workers for you … we will scout for you,” Earle-Sears said.
“In Virginia, we’ve got 250,000 jobs that are here for the taking,” she added. “We have created 10,000 new startups because of investments that our administration has made, and they’re high paying. We are bringing in even more businesses.
“There are opportunities that we haven’t spoken about yet that are still on the table and they’re just waiting for a signature. You heard me say the 1,000 jobs that we created, the new 59 jobs that we created. So, things are happening. So, I think Virginia is going to be all right.”
Other Republican state legislators attended the event, including Del. Bobby Orrock (R-Spotsylvania). Orrock said that the race between Earle-Sears and Spanberger, “is going to be a contrast in priorities and the vision we have in Virginia.” He said the same would be true of local races.
Orrock, who will be challenged by Democrat Nicole Cole in the 66th District, said he isn’t alarmed by the layoffs of federal workers because “It’s too early to know what the impacts of that are going to be.”
“Right now, we don’t know if these are temporary layoffs,” Orrock said. “We’ll see if they’re permanent or not. Gov. Youngkin has made it clear we’ve got a lot of opportunities for employment here in Virginia, and we could use their talents. We’ll see how it plays out.”
The event was hosted by Bowling Green District Supervisor Jeff Sili and his wife Susan. Caroline Board of Supervisors Chair Nancy Long (Port Royal District) and Supervisor Clay Forehand of the Madison District were also in attendance.
Jeff and Susan Sili provided background of the county to Earle-Sears and apprised her of some of the concerns in Caroline, particularly a surface water withdrawal permit that is pending with the Department of Environmental Quality, among other issues.
“I’m going to take all of that, and really consider it, and make sure I call some people, and then I’m going to hand it off to the governor and he can deal with it, Earle-Sears said, “because that’s what we do.”
