RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Is the Republican party unified ahead of the November elections? 

“Fundraising opportunities are being squandered. There’s a missed chance to effectively advocate for the Republicans as a whole,” said Rich Meagher, a Political Science Professor at Randolph-Macon, in an interview with 8News.

This issue remains unresolved since the party’s gubernatorial nominee, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, has not confirmed whether she will campaign alongside her Republican colleagues, John Reid (Lieutenant Governor nominee) and Jason Miyares (Attorney General nominee).

Earle-Sears told Radio IQ earlier this week, “Actually, as you know, we are all running our campaigns.” 

Meagher said that while Earle-Sears is technically correct when she says each office is separately elected, voters may not see it that way. 

“In today’s highly partisan climate, the Democrats align with Democrats, and Republicans with Republicans,” Meagher noted. “Anyone planning to support Sears will want to understand why they should or shouldn’t support Reid and Miyares too.”

The controversy all stems back to when Governor Glenn Youngkin asked Reid to drop out of the race in April after Youngkin learned about a social media account potentially tied to Reid that previously shared sexually explicit images. 

However, Meagher said with Reid staying in the race, Republicans need to show a unified front to improve their chances in November. 

“Anything they can do to combine forces, to use force multipliers, in terms of their donations and their efforts to campaign, anything will help them, and anything they don’t do, any lost opportunity will hurt them,” Meagher told 8News. 

8News reached out to the Earle-Sears campaign to see if the lieutenant governor wanted to clarify her comments. However, we did not receive a statement.