Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin defended his call to Republican nominee for lieutenant governor John Reid, who said the governor’s advisors are pushing him to drop out of the race amid claims about sexually explicit photos.
Youngkin said he called Reid, the first openly gay man to run on the Republican statewide ticket, because he believes concerns about lewd photos distract from key topics.
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WATCH HERE“Explicit social media content like this is a distraction. It’s a distraction for campaigns, and it’s a distraction from people paying attention to the most important issues,” he said Tuesday at an event on fentanyl awareness.
Youngkin said it’s Reid’s decision to remain in the race or not.
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SIGN UP “The decision is John’s and up to John,” he said.
In social media posts Friday and over the weekend, Reid accused Youngkin’s political advisors of extortion. He said religious activists threatened to release lewd photos they claimed he had posted on a Tumblr account. Reid said the photos are not his and the account was fabricated.
Then, he said the governor asked him to step down, he refused and his aides were contacted again.
“They were told if I dropped out of the race, they would purchase the opposition research and the lies and threat against me would suddenly stop. This is extortion and it is illegal in Virginia,” Reid said in a video he posted to social media.
Political analyst Bob Holsworth told News4 Republicans were already facing an uphill battle in November and this only deepens their challenge.
“Now you have this situation where the governor is largely being seen as an individual who is pushing out a gay man,” he said.
“Republicans have brought this on themselves. The governor has brought this on the party, and they don’t have an easy way out of it,” he continued.
GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor, also referred to distraction from core issues and left it to Reid to continue with his campaign or not.
“President Lincoln said, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ Those biblical words from Matthew 12:25 embody the positive mission of our campaign — to unite and inspire Virginians of all backgrounds. This week, focus on the lieutenant governor nominee distracted from that mission and cannot continue. John Reid is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. It is his race, and his decision alone to move forward. We all have our own race to run,” she said in a statement Tuesday.
Earle-Sears called for a focus on “results, unity and winning in November.”
