UPDATE: Youngkin, Earle-Sears say decision is up to Reid

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for governor, agreed in a statement Tuesday night, saying: "John Reid is the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor. It is his race and his decision alone to move forward."

Earle-Sears added: "We all have our own race to run."

Youngkin's call Friday for Reid to step down fractured the GOP ticket and has prevented joint campaigning.

Youngkin and Earle-Sears - both publicly addressing the uproar for the first time - said Tuesday that the drama over explicit social media posts that the governor has attributed to Reid - which Reid adamantly denies reposting - are a distraction from discussion of important issues.

 Reid, the first openly gay statewide nominee in Virginia, says he is the target of a “fabricated internet lie” and that he will stay in the contest.

Earle-Sears said in her statement: "President Lincoln said 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.' Those biblical words of Matthew 12:25 embody the positive mission of our campaign to unite and inspire Virginians of all backgrounds. This week focus on the Lt. Governor nominee distracted from that mission and cannot continue."

She added: "I am going to continue to make the case to the people of Virginia that Abigail Spanberger," the Democratic nominee for governor, "will tear down all the successes we've made in Virginia."

Youngkin addressed the issue earlier Tuesday after an event in Arlington County where he announced a sharp reduction in Virginia's fentanyl-related overdose deaths.

“One of the reasons why I called John last Friday morning was because these kinds of situations” with explicit social media content, are “a distraction,” Youngkin said following a presentation at the Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters. “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. And that’s why I called him on Friday morning and that’s why he and I had a very serious personal conversation.

“And the decision is John’s and up to John. But that’s why I called him and that’s what I wanted him to understand.

"At a time when we need to be speaking about really important topics, it’s a distraction and I don’t think that’s the best way for us to get a message out to Virginians.”

Miyares silent

Miyares, who also spoke at the overdose event in Arlington, left without stopping to take reporters' questions. "He's got to get to another event," his aide said.

Earle-Sears was to attend a fundraiser for her campaign Tuesday evening at Gauthier Vineyard in New Kent County. Campaign representatives asked a reporter and photographer from the Richmond Times-Dispatch to leave.

Reid in Henrico

Reid is set to hold a rally in Henrico County on Wednesday evening — at the same time and place where the full Republican ticket was originally expected to appear together for the first time in person.

News of Reid’s rogue rally comes as he ratchets up his rebuke of Youngkin’s attempt to remove him from the ticket. On Monday, Reid’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to the chairman of Youngkin’s political action committee, ordering him to stop “publishing lies” about Reid.

In the letter, Reid’s lawyers accuse the executive director of Youngkin’s PAC, Matt Moran, of defamation and malice. Moran did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

“We have all seen how they tried to destroy President Trump with false personal attacks, and your willingness to now attack Virginia’s conservative Pro-Trump Republican nominee for Lt. Governor is unconscionable,” the letter reads.

The letter claims that Moran provided false information about Reid to news outlets and threatened to share additional content if Reid does not drop out of the race by Saturday.

On Friday, news broke that Youngkin had asked Reid to step down as the lieutenant governor nominee because the governor was aware of a Tumblr account with naked photos and videos of other men reposted by an account that has the same username as Reid’s accounts on other social media pages. Reid denies the account is his or that he reposted the photos.

Reid, who is openly gay and has been with his partner Alonzo Mable for eight years, said in a video Sunday that Youngkin’s political team is extorting him and seeking “a coup against a gay man whom they didn’t want to be their nominee but didn’t have the guts to run against.”

Reid said in a post to X on Tuesday: "If people thought I was bluffing - i was NOT! I will NOT be abused or blackmailed!! By ANYONE."

He added: "I did everything right to be able to run for Lt. Governor and now I absolutely won’t be smeared and abused and extorted by enemies or supposed 'friends.'"

After speaking Tuesday to the Virginia Beach Republican Women's Club, Reid posted: "We CAN win this fall! We just can’t allow ourselves to be distracted by the inevitable ugliness and craziness of modern politics. Let’s focus on serving the citizens with solid ideas and leadership."

Amid the tumult, a number of GOP officials around the state have come to Reid's defense. Matthew Hurtt, chairman of the Arlington County Republican Committee, released a statement of support for Reid.

Hurtt said: "If this is how the Governor's political operation wants to close out his term in Richmond - by tossing a grenade into the statewide Republican ticket - it's truly a shame."