‘Youngkin decided to turn his tank around and aim it inside the fort’: Analyst reacts to call for Reid to withdraw from race

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A defiant John Reid says he is staying in the race for Lieutenant Governor.

It comes after The Richmonder first reported that Governor Glenn Youngkin called Reid and asked him to step aside as the Republican nominee after “GOP researchers found sexually explicit posts online that they believe are connected to Reid.”

“I can’t quite recall a kind of self-inflicted error, internal firing squad quite like this,” said Randolph-Macon Political Science Professor Rich Meahger.

Although the Tumblr account where the content was posted has been deleted, 8News used the Wayback Machine -- an online archive tool -- and found sexually explicit images of other men shared on the account dating back to 2014.

“Glenn Youngkin decided to turn his tank around and aim it inside the fort,” Meagher said. 

In a video posted on X, Reid said the account wasn’t his and is part of an effort to push a gay man off a statewide ticket. 

“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,” Reid said.

Regardless of whether the account was his or not, Meagher says Republicans have to find a way to move forward. He says if the current Republican nominee for Govenror, Winsome Earle-Sears, doesn’t express support for Reid, it will be very difficult for Republicans to win in November. 

“I just feel like it's a non-starter to have Reid there and not be running with him. If you are running against him or parallel to him, I just don’t see how that is going to be practical,” Meagher said.

8News reached out to the Sears campaign to see if she still supports Reid via phone, email, and text, but have not heard back as of the time of reporting.