What to Know
- The move to pull out of Virginia shows Trump is "running essentially a four state campaign."
- Corey Stewart, Trump's recently fired Virginia campaign chairman, called the move "totally premature."
- The Republican Party of Virginia said it remains committed to winning the commonwealth for all GOP candidates.
The Republican Party of Virginia and Republican National Committee remain committed to winning the commonwealth for all Republican candidates despite reports Donald Trump's campaign is "pulling out of Virginia."
Three sources with knowledge of the decision told NBC News it came from Trump's headquarters in New York and was announced on a conference call late Wednesday, leaving some Republican Party operatives in Virginia blindsided. Two staffers directly involved in the GOP's efforts in Virginia confirmed the decision.
The Republican Party of Virginia released the following statement:
"Republican Party of Virginia and Republican National Committee teams have been on the ground in the Commonwealth for two years preparing for this election. Our commitment to winning Virginia for all of our Republican candidates remains unchanged.
"The media reports saying the Trump campaign has withdrawn from Virginia come from unnamed sources and a former state co-chair who was terminated by the campaign."
The move to pull out of Virginia shows Trump is "running essentially a four state campaign," with the focus now shifting to battlegrounds critical to his chances in November: Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, a source with knowledge of the decision told NBC News.
Local
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Corey Stewart, Trump's recently fired Virginia campaign chairman, called the move "totally premature."
Stewart told NBC News he was informed about the decision by a staffer who was on the conference call.
"The only thing the campaign had to do was spend money on an ad campaign and it would have been competitive," Stewart said. "I'm just disgusted."
Stewart, who is a chairman on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, was fired earlier this week for leading a protest outside the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C.
Former seven-term, moderate Republican Congressman Tom Davis said changing demographics undercut Republican, anti-government appeal in the commonwealth. After Trump, the same demographics could affect Republican efforts in the 2017 campaign for governor and other statewide offices, Davis said.
"They've been carrying the rest of the state but they've been losing so heavily in northern Virginia, they' can't make it up," he said.
