Republican Winsome Earle-Sears is bringing on a new campaign manager as the GOP nominee for Virginia governor seeks to quell concerns about the direction of her campaign ahead of the high-profile off-year election this November.
Pennsylvania-based political strategist Corey Barsky will take on the role, CNN has learned. A campaign spokesperson says Barsky will take over for Will Archer, who the campaign announced last week was moving into a different role.
Barsky has already been serving as a senior adviser for the campaign. According to his LinkedIn page, he is currently a strategist at the political consulting firm ColdSpark and a 2021 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.
The staffing shift comes as Earle-Sears, the state’s lieutenant governor, trails her Democratic rival, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, in fundraising and public polling. Spanberger announced last week that her campaign raised $10.7 million in the second quarter, eclipsing the $5.9 million brought in by Earle-Sears.
A recent poll by Virginia Commonwealth University found Earle-Sears trailing Spanberger by 12 points, 49% to 37%.
Republicans have publicly criticized her fundraising and outreach to donors, including in a Politico magazine story published Wednesday.
Core to Earle-Sears election argument is an emphasis on creating jobs and pursuing policies to benefit the working class. She’s also leaning on the record of incumbent Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin though her campaign has also noted she cannot self-finance much of her campaign like Youngkin, who had a long business career before entering politics.
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