ARLINGTON, Va. — Days after Republican lieutenant governor candidate John Reid says Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called and asked him to drop out of the race over social media photos, the governor addressed their conversation.
Youngkin commented on the situation for the first time during a press event at the Drug Enforcement Administration Headquarters in Arlington Tuesday afternoon.
"Let me just quickly comment that one of the one of the reasons why I called John last Friday morning was because these kinds of situations where there is just a historical recognition that social media and explicit, explicit social media content like this is a distraction," Youngkin said. "It's a distraction for campaigns, and it's 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."
The comment comes amid the news that Reid's legal team sent a cease and desist letter to Matt Moran, the executive director of the Youngkin's political action committee.
The letter says Moran continues to make "false and defamatory statements" about Reid and that he was the one who provided information that led Youngkin to call for Reid to end his campaign last week.
As first reported by The Richmonder, there was a Tumblr account that had sexually explicit photos of men on it and had the same username Reid uses on other social media platforms.
Watch: Republican candidate John Reid addresses photos: 'I'm mad as hell'
The letter says Reid had nothing to do with the account and that Moran has provided no proof.
"The decision is John's and up to John," the governor concluded. "But that's why I called him, and that's what I wanted him to understand, is that 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, so thank you."
In a video posted to X Sunday afternoon, Reid said he is being targeted for being openly gay.
"I'm not going to continue to answer a never ending parade of questions and false accusations from people who we now know are solely motivated to stage a coup against a gay man whom they didn't want to be their nominee but didn't have the guts to run against. It's unfair," Reid said.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running for governor, issued the following statement Tuesday evening:
“President Lincoln said, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ Those biblical words from Matthew 12:25 embody the positive mission of our campaign — to unite and inspire Virginians of all backgrounds.
“This week, focus on the lieutenant governor nominee distracted from that mission and cannot continue. John Reid is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. It is his race, and his decision alone to move forward. We all have our own race to run.
“I am going to continue to make the case to the people of Virginia that Abigail Spanberger will tear down all the successes we’ve made in Virginia. We cannot let that happen. Our campaign is focused on results, unity, and winning in November.”
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