FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, responded to a Democrat official who accused her of antisemitism.

“These folks are grasping at straws,” Earle-Sears told The Daily Signal in a phone call Wednesday.

The antisemitism accusation traces back to the debate over a recent protester’s sign comparing her opposition to transgender bathroom policies to racial segregation.

The Antisemitism Accusation

Last week in Arlington, Virginia, a protester held a sign reading, “Hey, Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then blacks can’t share my water fountain.”

The protester stood outside a meeting of the Arlington County School Board, ahead of an expected speech from Earle-Sears condemning the school system’s policy allowing boys who identify as girls to use girls’ restrooms and vice versa.

The protester said she wrote the sign to “provoke conversation around the absurdity of prejudice” and argued that “in the same way that drinking fountains should be usable by all races, bathrooms should be nondiscriminatory.”

Earle-Sears, if elected, would not only become the first black female governor in Virginia but in American history as well.

Her opponent in the race, Democrat Abigail Spanberger, condemned the protester’s sign as “racist and abhorrent,” but other Democrats have suggested that Earle-Sears is ultimately to blame for it.

“What happened in Arlington wasn’t just about a meeting,” Marc Broklawski, second vice chair of rules in the Virginia Democrat Party, wrote on X. “It was about the climate Winsome Sears is creating, one where contempt is currency and neighbors are turned against each other.”

Earle-Sears responded to his message, saying, “I know Abigail and her elitist cabal are desperate and deluded, but this is a whole new level of crazy.”

Broklawski seized on Earle-Sears’ decision to use the phrase “elitist cabal.”

“I’m Jewish,” he wrote. “That’s not random, it’s antisemitism, plain and simple.”

Winsome Sears had every word in the English language to choose from. She chose “elitist cabal.”

I’m Jewish. That’s not random, it’s antisemitism, plain and simple. pic.twitter.com/IMjW1C1TAh

— Marc Broklawski (@marcbroklawski) August 24, 2025

When asked about the antisemitism accusation, Earle-Sears dismissed it as baseless.

“Actually, that was written by an Orthodox Jew,” she told The Daily Signal, referring to her X post using “elitist cabal.”

In response to follow-up questions, the Earle-Sears campaign named Nachama Soloveichik, a partner at the political consulting firm ColdSpark, as the post’s author.

In February 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill to combat antisemitism in the commonwealth, which Earle-Sears supported. Meanwhile, Democrats are currently attacking Earle-Sears for reportedly failing to disclose a trip she took to Israel with the Combat Antisemitism Movement.

“These folks are grasping at straws instead of saying, ‘Yes, it is true that boys are boys and girls are girls, and we should not be creating sexual trauma,’” Earle-Sears told The Daily Signal.

When asked about the sign and the suggestion that her opposition to transgender bathrooms is comparable to segregation, she said, “That’s like blaming black people for the actions of the [Ku Klux] Klan.”

Earle-Sears called on Spanberger to more forcefully condemn the sign and the Democrats who suggest the black Republican is ultimately responsible for it.

“Instead of coming forward and saying, ‘Stop it, don’t go down this road, this is not who Democrats are,’ she allows these folks on her side of the aisle to continue,” she added.

While Spanberger and the Arlington Democrat Party condemned the sign, Earle-Sears noted that “there were 150 to 200” Democrats “protesting for a whole hour.”

“That sign was up for a whole hour, and nobody said anything to them to take it down because it’s racist,” the Republican said. “No one said that—not a one, and that means they’re all complicit.”