President Donald Trump encouraged people in Virginia to vote “Republican” in the upcoming gubernatorial election, noting that current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, is “excellent.”
While taking questions from reporters on Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington, DC, Trump was asked if he planned to endorse Earle-Sears in the upcoming election against Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.
“Mr. President, you haven’t weighed in on the Virginia gubernatorial race that’s in a few weeks,” a reporter asked Trump. “Do you plan to endorse the lieutenant governor?”
“I think the Republican candidate is very good, and I think she should win because the Democrat candidate’s a disaster,” Trump said, adding that he has not “been too much involved” in the gubernatorial election in Virginia.
The president added: “I think the Republican candidate is excellent, and I think Democrat candidate is a disaster.”
Trump added when he watched Spanberger during the recent debate between her and Earle-Sears, and noted that Spanberger “couldn’t answer the most basic question.”
“A big thing with that race and also the race in New Jersey, is going to be energy,” Trump added. “Both of the Democrats are going to drive the energy prices through the roof — through the roof. Your energy is going to double and triple. If the Republican gets elected, your energy is going to be coming down by 70, 80 percent. Thank you very much, everybody, vote Republican.”
Regarding elections in Virginia, Trump was also asked about Jay Jones, the Democrat candidate for attorney general in Virginia, and about Jones’ comments during a debate against current Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, where he said he could not “wait to see” Trump in court.
“I cannot wait to see Donald Trump in court and protect Virginia to put us first,” Jones said, as he called on Miyares to “prosecute the president.”
When asked about Trump’s response to Jones’ comments, Trump described Jones as a “third-rate intellect.”
“He’s a third-rate intellect,” Trump said. “He’s a guy … I’ve never seen anybody say what he said — that he wanted to kill his opponent’s children, he wanted to kill his opponent. I can’t imagine anybody voting for Jay Jones.”
Trump’s comments on Jones come after the National Review obtained text messages that Jones sent to Virginia House Delegate Carrie Coyner (R) on August 8, 2022, in which he pondered a hypothetical situation in which, if faced with shooting two dictators or former Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert (R), he would shoot Gilbert twice.
In later text messages between Jones and Coyner, Jones also “talked about Gilbert’s children dying in the arms of their mother.”
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