JF in the News: Youngkin Sparks GOP Firestorm after Wading into Virginia Election Controversy

“[Youngkin] has been open, he has been welcoming, he has been willing to listen. That is why it was so shocking that he would come down so hard on this issue,” Kazmierczak told The Hill. “I don’t think this is the governor’s doing. I think this is his consultants pushing him in this direction.”

Hurtt noted he does not view the controversy as an intraparty divide, but rather as Republicans united against efforts to oust Reid from the primary.

“Grassroots Republicans are unified,” Hurtt said. “What I’ve seen on social media over the weekend was that this has actually unified Republicans around John Reid.”

Youngkin’s defenders, on the other hand, maintain the governor’s call had nothing to do with Reid’s sexuality.

“He’s the governor, and he’s got a right to say, ‘Hey I don’t like what I’ve seen, and I need a candidate that I think is viable,’” said John Fredericks, a conservative talk radio show host who chaired Trump’s Virginia presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.

“John Reid can’t win this race now,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter what the pictures are. This has nothing to do with John Reid’s sexuality or pictures or what he did or who it was with.”

Youngkin responded to the fallout during a press conference on fentanyl awareness Tuesday, calling the alleged explicit photos involving Reid “a distraction.”

“It’s a distraction for campaigns and it’s a distraction from people paying attention to the most important issues, and here we are today talking about fentanyl and saving lives and the distraction is present,” Youngkin said. “That’s why I called him on Friday morning.”

“And the decision is John’s and up to John,” the governor continued.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) echoed Youngkin’s remarks in a separate statement Tuesday evening.

“This week, focus on the lieutenant governor nominee distracted from that mission and cannot continue,” Earle-Sears said, referring to the mission “to unite and inspire Virginians of all backgrounds.”

“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.”

Fredericks likened the controversy surrounding Reid to the one faced by former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) last year. Robinson stayed in the state’s governor’s race following allegations he made a number of inflammatory remarks on a pornography website’s message board more than 10 years ago.

“We all stood behind [Robinson]. Guess what? He got blown out,” he said.

The talk show host said Reid staying in the race was “a prescription for losing,” because it divides the party ahead of November’s elections.

Reid, whom Fredericks refers to as “a friend,” is slated to host Fredericks’s radio show for four hours Thursday.

Fredericks estimated that roughly 75 percent of his listeners want Reid to stay in the race.

“I’m in the minority and I’m the host, but I don’t create the narrative for my audience,” he said. “I hope John opens it up to lots of phone calls and hear what people have to say.”

It’s unclear how much of an impact this will have on November’s elections. The controversy can arguably be described as an insider story that voters are not necessarily tuned in to.

“Electorally, I don’t think it has that large of impact. It’s reputational that it has an impact,” the unnamed GOP national strategist said.

“I don’t think this has long-term impact unless the senior team stays in place, depending on his future,” the strategist added.