Miyares Seeks Reelection as Attorney General, Paves Way for Earle-Sears in Governor’s Race

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Monday that he will seek reelection in 2025, putting to rest speculation that he might enter the Republican primary for governor. His decision effectively clears the way for Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to secure her party’s nomination for the state’s top job.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares joins former president Donald Trump at a rally in Chesapeake on June 28, 2024. Charlotte Rene Woods/ Virginia Mercury

“I serve as the people’s protector,” Miyares said of his role as the state’s top lawyer in an X post announcing his reelection campaign.

Highlighting his aspirations for another four years as attorney general, Miyares pointed to key public safety initiatives he has championed, including the “One Pill Can Kill” campaign to raise awareness about fentanyl overdoses and his office’s work with “Ceasefire Virginia,” a program that combines prosecution efforts with community engagement to combat crime.

Earlier this year, Miyares celebrated crime reductions associated with the initiative.

Miyares’ campaign launch comes roughly a week after Democratic candidate Jay Jones announced his latest bid for the position. Jones lost a Democratic primary to former Attorney General Mark Herring in 2021, who later went on to lose to Miyares later that year in the general election.

Though Miyares hadn’t officially announced yet, Jones took a jab at Miyares last week — accusing him of using his office to “attack Virginians’ freedoms, pander to the fringes of his own party and side with corporate price gougers and polluters” at the cost of Virginia families.

Moments after Miyares’ announcement, Gov. Glenn Youngkin also turned to X to endorse the attorney general and Earle-Sears for next year’s Republican ticket.

“As attorney general, Jason vigorously defends the laws of the commonwealth, stands with law enforcement every single day while leading our shared fight to end the free flow of opioids and fentanyl into our communities, and has been a constant advocate for victims of human trafficking and domestic violence,” Youngkin wrote.

“He has never backed down when it comes to standing up for Virginians. He is an exceptional attorney general.”

Youngkin also hailed Earle-Sears — a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who declared her bid for the state’s highest office in September and would likely face U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger — as “an outstanding” lieutenant governor.

“She will be a great governor. She has been an outspoken advocate for commonsense conservative principles and policies, a passionate voice for our military and veterans, and a relentless advocate for educational freedom and economic opportunity. She brings the fighting spirit of a Marine to the office every single day.”

Earle-Sears said in a statement that she was “deeply honored” to receive Youngkin’s endorsement.

“Together with our outstanding attorney general, Jason Miyares, we will continue championing common-sense safety and security policies that keep Virginia the ‘Number 1 Best State for Business,’” she said.

While Miyares is so far the only Republican candidate vying for the seat, Jones will face Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor in a primary. Miyares took aim at both on social media last week after Jones announced his bid.

“Both of the announced (democratic) candidates for Attorney General are far-left, anti-police, criminal rights progressives who will make Virginia less safe. They will support the same criminal first, victim last policies that lead to a surge in violent crime,” Miyares wrote.

He reiterated similar messaging in his re-election campaign launch video Monday, and said that in a second term he will continue to press for more tough-on-crime policies. Also during his time in office, Miyares has signed onto legal briefs with other Republican attorneys general challenging President Joe Biden administration’s Title IX rules meant to protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination.

In her pushback to Miyares, Taylor noted her over 25 years of experience as a prosecutor.

“Every day of every one of those years has been spent working with law enforcement to keep people safe and seeking justice for victims of crime and their families,” she wrote on X with a repost of Miyares’ post.

And Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker in a statement called Miyares “a MAGA mouthpiece in pushing an extreme agenda,” referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign motto.

“Virginians deserve an attorney general who will stand up for their rights and freedoms, not someone who is constantly trying to take them away,” Swecker said. “It is clear that, if re-elected, Miyares would use his office as a partisan tool to serve the interests of the Trump administration, rather than the needs of hard-working Virginians.”

Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington, said it was “a smart move” by Miyares to put his gubernatorial ambitions on hold and run for reelection next year.

“There was no guarantee that he would prevail in a contest with the lieutenant governor. He can run for reelection now and legitimately claim the right to be first in line in 2029 for the party’s gubernatorial nomination,” Farnsworth said.

While Republican attorneys general end up running for governor consistently and sometimes have been able to prevail over Republican lieutenant governors because they are more explicitly conservative, that is not the case this time, Farnsworth said.

“The current lieutenant governor is not an ideological moderate the way some Republican lieutenant governors have been in the past,” he said of Earle-Sears.

Democrats would likely have preferred a competition for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination among the two Republican statewide office holders, Farnsworth added.

“If nothing else, a fight between Miyares and Winsome Earle-Sears would have put a lot of Republican money into the primary that otherwise would have been spent on a general election.”

Connor Joseph, a spokesman for Spanberger’s campaign, said that no matter who her eventual opponent is, the Democrat’s vision for Virginia remains the same.

“Her 2025 campaign will continue to be focused on the priorities that all Virginians share — stronger schools, safer communities, and lower costs,” Joseph said. “Additionally, Abigail knows that Virginia must have a governor who is committed to protecting the rights and fundamental freedoms of all Virginians.”

by Markus Schmidt and Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury