Trump to helm election-eve tele-rally for Virginia ticket, as window to formally endorse Winsome Sears closes

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump is expected to headline a tele-rally for the entire Virginia Republican statewide ticket, offering one of his last opportunities to issue a formal endorsement of the gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Trump has praised Earle-Sears during the campaign and said she "must win" against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, but stopped short of issuing a ringing endorsement as he has for former New Jersey Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, R-Somerville, in that state’s gubernatorial contest. Little was made public about the tele-rally, and who would virtually attend such an event – including a Ciattarelli event also being held Monday evening. But tele-town halls in other states, like those held occasionally by state lawmakers in Pennsylvania, often start with voters or constituents receiving a robo-call with a legislator's voice asking them to press a button to be connected to the call – which then can either be a Q&A or the lawmaker describing their work in the recent term. TRUMP VOICES SUPPORT FOR GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, ADMITS SHE HAS 'TOUGH RACE' A source familiar with prior such tele-rallies between Trump and Virginia voters said they do drive turnout. The source recounted Trump’s efforts in the waning hours of the 2021 gubernatorial election , when he held a similar event remotely in support of now-outgoing-Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin had been polling well below ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe throughout the race – similar to how Earle-Sears has been underperforming against Spanberger – but ultimately engineered an upset by just over one percentage point over the Democrat. "The president did a tele-rally for [Youngkin] the day before his election and he won by 60,000 votes — that was the difference," the source said. SPANBERGER USES SPONGEBOB TO MOCK SEARS-TRUMP RELATIONSHIP, AS PRESIDENT PRAISES GOP NOM However, after Youngkin won the GOP nomination in 2021, Trump explicitly issued his "complete and total endorsement" to the business…