A campaign bus for Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears made a stop in Lexington Monday afternoon, drawing crowds of both supporters and protesters to the visitor center on Washington Street.
“These types of things are about getting the activists excited and turned out and energized,” said Roger Jarrell, former chair of the Rockbridge Republicans. “We just started early voting this week and based on the numbers that are coming in, Republicans are more activated than the Democrats to turn out. The numbers in Republican areas are high whereas the Democrat’s traditional strongholds are much lower.”
Early voting in Virginia kicked off on Friday and 35,224 in-person ballots were cast over the first weekend of voting, according to data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. In the 2021 election, 16,437 votes were cast in-person during the first few days of early voting.
Lexington and Rockbridge have also saw higher in-person turnouts over the weekend than in 2021, with 142 early ballots being cast in the county and 44 in Lexington (up from 69 and 37, respectively). While voters don’t register by party in Virginia, VPAP’s data shows that most of the districts with higher turnout among early voters are ones that have a stronger Republican base.
Jarrell also said that the turnout for the campaign bus stop was “really strong,” as locals came out to talk to members of Earle-Sears campaign, including her husband, Terence Sears. They were also able to sign their names to the side of the bus.
“I’ve had a lot of interest from people in the community that I know, and that’s telling me that Republican voters are extremely activated with what happened to Charlie Kirk and that whole incident,” Jarrell said. “That’s also energized the Republican base. We’re gonna call it the Kirk effect, and I think that’s real. And I think you’ll see that bear out as we progress.”
Not everyone who came to Washington Street Monday afternoon was there to support Earle-Sears, with a small group of protestors congregating on the south side of Washington Street across from the bus.
Among them were members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), who have had representatives protesting at every stop of the bus tour. The SEIU is a labor union representing more than 100 million health care, public service and property service employees in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The union members who are protesting Earle-Sears’ bus tour are primarily protesting her support for the recently passed Big Beautiful Bill, and the impact it will have on health care for Virginians.
“We are trying to save health care in Virginia, which is under attack by Winsome Earle-Sears,” said Patti Nelson, a retired community psychiatric nurse and member of SEIU from Loudon County. “The big MAGA, big ugly bill, she fully supports, and it’s going to destroy health care in Virginia. Hospitals are going to close. Clinics are going to close. That’s why we’re here. We need to fight with every ounce of strength that we have to protect health care for Virginians.”
The SEIU members were joined by a number of local protestors, who had their own reasons for protesting.
“I’m concerned about the direction our country is going in and the direction our GOP candidates are taking us,” the Rev. Susan Worrell said. “I want my grandchildren to have a functional democracy when they take over the leadership of this country and right now, we’re not heading in that direction.”
No communication, hostile or otherwise, was made between the two groups.
“Republicans aren’t about protesting,” Jarrell said. “We’re all about freedom of speech to do whatever we want, but we’re all about turning out our vote.”
A GROUP of protestors made up of area residents and members of the Service Employees International Union gathered across the street from the bus to protest Winsome Earle-Sears’ support for President Trump and his policies. (Joseph Haney photo)
