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EXCLUSIVE: Gov. Glenn Youngkin cracked the code for Republicans in purple Virginia, a state that hadn’t backed a GOP governor in over a decade and hasn’t sent a Republican to the Senate since 2009. Now, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears hopes to repeat the feat — but can it be done?
Dave Brat, a former Virginia congressman and member of the House Freedom Caucus, says it can.
Brat stunned the political world a decade ago when he toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary no one thought he could win. He says his underdog playbook could hold the key for Earle-Sears as she faces a steep climb against Democrat Abigail Spanberger in this year’s governor’s race.
A decade ago, Brat was an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland when he launched his longshot bid against Cantor, R-Va. – then a potential future Speaker of the House.
Outspent 40:1, Brat campaigned undeterred and kept to his small-government, grassroots message that included themes of Cantor being too enmeshed in Washington and critiqued mainstream Republicans’ openness to immigration amnesty. He shocked the political world by beating Cantor by more than 10 points and ultimately winning the general election.
That victory, Brat told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview, shows Republicans can still defy expectations in Virginia — if they stick to clear, populist issues that resonate with voters. “Winsome has to be very smart in picking a few key issues where she thinks they’ll win,” he said.
In 2021, then-business executive Glenn Youngkin – who, like Brat, was a political novice – beat back political headwinds against high-profile former Gov. Terry McAuliffe – winning the governorship for the GOP for the first time in over a decade. In November, Earle-Sears has that same chance, Brat said.
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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, left; former Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., right. (Al Drago/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla; Getty Images)
“Youngkin came in on the key issue of the kids in the bathrooms and all the craziness in the school and who’s in charge of that. And that’s, unfortunately, still with us,” Brat said.
“Winsome is a very good person. And part of this lies at the feet of the voters.”
But Brat also criticized his own party, accusing Virginia Republicans of relying too heavily on donors rather than grassroots supporters.
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“The Virginia Republican Party [has had] a well-established pattern for about 40 years. The check-writers only support the check-writers. They never support the base,” he said.
“Everyone says, ‘Oh, I love the commonwealth’, but the check-writers aren’t there, and we need them.”
The Republican Party of Virginia countered that it remains firmly behind its nominee.
“Our candidates remain united in their fight for hard-working Virginia families. All of our focus and our energy is aimed at highlighting the successes of the Youngkin-Sears-Miyares administration and exposing the failed radical left policies being advanced by Abigail Spanberger and Virginia Democrats,” the spokesperson said.
Brat also painted the Democrats’ message and recent political posturing as being unpopular when voters are informed of it, citing Spanberger’s responses to questions about current controversies like transgender bathroom policies in schools, which Earle-Sears is hammering in her outreach.
“Again, all political views of my own, but a former CIA person (Spanberger) who won’t say the basic things on the Judeo-Christian tradition, values, boys can be girls, the schools can take your kid, and they can change the sex of your kid without [parental intervention], and she can’t make a strong comment on that — I mean, that tells you all,” Brat said.
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While Clinton confidant James Carville may have claimed “it’s the economy, stupid” as the top electoral axiom, Brat noted the intricacies often take “too long to explain.”
“We had 20% inflation under Biden in those four years. Under Trump… it’s up like a half a percentage point,” he said, when asked about how Spanberger continues to hammer cost-of-living and economic issues moreso than social issues highlighted by Earle-Sears.
“So, [Spanberger] can say that. Winsome ought to come back and swipe it down hard — hit it hard to knock the economy out [as an issue for Democrats].
“We’re in favor of the private sector. Spanberger’s in favor of socialist policies and growing government. And the ‘fascist’ label the left is using: you can’t be a ‘fascist’ if you’re for small government. So that’s a problem. So she ought to swipe those out quick.”
Like Youngkin, Brat said, Earle-Sears needs the “suburban mom” vote, suggesting battling the culture wars may do her well.
“If the suburban Mom flips our way, we win going away,” he said. “I think she can win.”
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