(From left to right) Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkgin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Hung Cao and U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman listen to Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump at an early vote rally on Oct. 26, 2024. Charlotte Rene Woods Virginia Mercury
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump called into an early voting rally in Chesterfield Saturday hosted by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s PAC to boost congressional candidates in Virginia and excite the state’s GOP base.
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s daughter-in-law, was one of several speakers at the event, including Youngkin, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, U.S. Senate hopeful Hung Cao and 1st Congressional District incumbent U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman.
“November 5 is going to be the biggest, most important day in the history of our country,” Trump said on his phone call to Youngkin and rally-goers. “We win Virginia, it’s over.”
While he and his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris have spent a lot of time campaigning in battleground states seen as key to winning the presidency like Pennsylvania, Arizona and North Carolina, Trump said he thinks “Virginia is still in play.”
His campaign has a rally planned for Nov. 2 in Salem, Virginia.
Trump also stressed his goals to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and enhance funding for border security measures in his phoned-in comments, sentiments echoed by the day’s other speakers. He repeated false allegations that other countries are releasing people from prisons and mental institutions to illegally enter the U.S., highlighting immigration reform as a priority issue of his campaign.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at an early vote rally in Chesterfield on Oct. 26, 2024. (Charlotte Rene WoodsVirginia Mercury)
Youngkin encouraged early voting and played defense during his speech at the rally, vowing again to challenge a federal judge’s Oct. 25 order for the state to pause its voter removal process and reinstate about 1,600 people who had been removed from voting rolls as authorized by Youngkin’s Executive Order 35.
Judge orders people removed from voter rolls to be reinstated, Gov. Youngkin to seek appeal
“We’re going to take this all the way to the Supreme Court,” he said and was met with cheers from the crowd. Youngkin and the state face two lawsuits over the voter roll removals, one from the Department of Justice, which have placed Virginia at the center of national dialogue about voter access and election security ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The lawsuits allege that the voter removals impacted eligible voters who may have made errors on their DMV paperwork that triggered the state Department of Elections to boot them from rolls, or people who became citizens after indicating otherwise on DMV forms. Republicans have framed the lawsuits as politically-motivated actions that hinder the state’s ability to block non-citizens from voting, which is already illegal.
Lara Trump reflected on the political violence that unfolded July 13 during her speech, as she recalled the assassination attempt on Trump’s life that day.
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump speaks at an early vote rally in Virginia on Oct. 26, 2024 in support of her father-in-law Donald Trump’s presidential bid and congressional candidates in Virginia. (Charlotte Rene WoodsVirginia Mercury)
“Not even a bullet was enough to stop this man, and that is why we are backing him all across this country,” she said.
She stressed the importance of supporting candidates from the top to bottom of tickets.
“Make sure you remember that Donald Trump needs a (Republican-controlled) Congress to work alongside (of him),” Lara Trump said. “Vote the whole ticket down!”
Though the governor and both Trumps’ comments were focal points of the rally, Wittman and Cao got some stage time as well.
In his speech, Wittman noted the Republican priorities of working to address inflation as well as support for law enforcement. He, and nearly every speaker, quoted former Republican President Ronald Reagan — “peace through strength” — regarding goals to tighten border security and support the U.S. Military.
U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, speaks at an early vote rally in Chesterfield on Oct. 26, 2024. (Charlotte Rene WoodsVirginia Mercury)
Wittman, who has typically won re-election by or over 20% margins since 2007, has seen occasional narrowing in recent years, winning his 2018 contest against Democrat Lavangelene Aereka Williams by 10.5%. This year’s democratic challenger, Leslie Mehta, hopes to flip the seat.
Cao said he is running “against the other Tim,” in reference to both Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Cao’s opponent, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine. Kaine ran for vice president in 2016 alongside presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton, who lost to Trump. Cao said that voters this year have a chance to make both Tims “failed vice presidential candidates.”
The rally in Chesterfield was part of a series Youngkin’s political action committee Spirit of Virginia is hosting to boost GOP candidates statewide and encourage early voting. Despite Republican opposition to early voting in the past, Youngkin’s PAC has pressed for people to utilize it since last year’s General Assembly elections and, when Trump visited Chesapeake this past summer, the governor stressed its use then, as well.
An attendee holds a sign at an early vote rally on Oct. 26,2024 in support of Republican candidates U.S. Rep Rob Whitman (pictured in background), U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao, and presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Charlotte Rene WoodsVirginia Mercury)
Later in the day Youngkin was scheduled to appear in Farmville with U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to support state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland in his bid to represent the 5th Congressional District against Democrat Gloria Witt. Jordan also visited Virginia Beach Friday night to support U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, who’s facing off against Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal.
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