The Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia let go of multiple campaign staffers Wednesday night, including her campaign manager and press secretary, according to multiple reports.
Among those on Winsome Sears’s campaign whose jobs were terminated were former campaign manager CJ Jordan and former press secretary Mike Allers.
Sears told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Wednesday, “Campaigns retool all the time,” adding, “We’re trying to be more lean and that’s it. There is no big story here.”
Allers said, according to the Times-Dispatch, that a “representative of the Richmond political consulting company Creative Direct, which had been working with the Sears campaign for a few weeks” had informed him of his termination. The outlet noted about six staffers in total were let go.
Other reports — including from a Hill reporter and the Virginia Scope — specified that a law firm notified the employees that they were out of a job.
Virginia Scope shared a message on social media from Tucker Davis, a Republican strategist working for Sears. Davis said Sears is “in a strong position” to win her race against Democrat candidate Del. Hala Ayala (D).
“Like any campaign, we have to make strategic decisions that best position us for victory. We are focused on running a lean campaign over the next 55 days, and using all of our resources to get our message out to voters,” Davis wrote:
Statement from a Sears campaign advisor. “Like any campaign, we have to make strategic decisions that best position us for victory.” pic.twitter.com/qvfuqzG3H1
— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) September 9, 2021
The decision from Sears’s campaign comes less than two months away from the high-profile statewide elections in Virginia for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, which take place November 2.
Polls show Sears, who is a Jamaican immigrant, U.S. Marine veteran, and former Virginia delegate, in a tight race with Ayala.
A Monmouth University poll conducted August 24–29 showed Ayala with 43 percent support compared to Sears’s 42 percent support, with 14 percent undecided. The poll’s margin of error was 3.5 percent. A Christopher Newport University poll conducted slightly earlier, August 15–23, showed Ayala with a stronger lead of about ten percent; however, six percent were undecided in that poll and its margin of error was 3.6 percent.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com.
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