Virginia’s Hard-Right AG, Jason Miyares, Announces He Will Be Seeking Reelection, Essentially Clearing the Way for a Winsome Sears vs. Abigail Spanberger Contest for Virginia Governor in 2025

I’m not even going to link to this video by Virginia AG Jason Miyares – the worst attorney general in modern Virginia history, other than Ken Cuccinelli, and a MASSIVE downgrade from arguably the best attorney general in Virginia history, Mark Herring. Just a few points, though:

• First, this means that Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears will NOT, after all, face a primary from her main threat for the VA GOP’s 2025 gubernatorial nomination. So, barring something really crazy happening (e.g., Trump going to war against her as revenge for Sears’ harsh criticism of him in the past), it looks like Sears is the prohibitive favorite for said nomination.
• The fact is, Miyares must have known he stood almost zero chance of defeating Sears for the nomination. Just look at the polling – a Cygnal poll in March 2024 had Sears up 44%-16% over Miyares, with another poll by Cygnal, in October 2024, showing Sears up 48%-12%. So yeah, barring some sort of miracle, Miyares wasn’t going to defeat Sears.
• Miyares’ announcement sets up an almost certain showdown between Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger (who, at least so far, faces no challenge for the nomination) for the governorship next November. Regardless of which candidate wins – and, obviously, we all need to make sure that’s Spanberger, not Sears! – it’s now almost certain that Virginia will have the first female governor in the Commonwealth’s history.
• As for the AG job, get ready for months and months of Miyares attacking Democrats Jay Jones and Shannon Taylor – the two possibilities for the 2025 Democratic AG nomination – as supposedly “soft on crime,” “far left,” blah blah blah. Don’t believe a word of it, of course – this is just typical Republican rhetoric they’ve been using for decades, even as it bears no resemblance to reality or fact. Unfortunately, though, Republican “law-and-order” rhetoric, going back to Richard Nixon or earlier, has often worked, so Jones and/or Taylor had better be ready to hit back hard and effectively against Miyares’ obvious line of attack against them. And no, Democrats CAN NOT just let those attacks go unanswered. Also, it’s crucial that Jones and/or Taylor turn the tables and attack Miyares for being a divisive, ineffective AG – and how Virginia can do much MUCH better by making a change to either Jones or Taylor.