Longtime Dem donor doles out money to Black GOP nominee after racist attack

A longtime Democratic donor publicly displayed his support for Republican Virginia gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears’ campaign following a racist attack on the black GOP candidate during a protest outside a school board meeting on Aug. 21.

Robert Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and chairman of asset manager RLJ Companies, contributed $500,000 to Earle-Sears’ campaign, Politico’s Playbook reported on Friday. Johnson, one of the United States’ first black billionaires, said he decided to donate to Earle-Sears’ campaign to stand with the lieutenant governor against a racist attack on her campaign.

Earle-Sears would become the first black female governor in the country if she defeats former Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, in November.

“Madam Lt. Governor. I was so appalled by that racist diatribe displayed by a useful idiot at a recent press event that I chose to show all the voters of Virginia how Black Brothers stand up to defend and support their Black Sisters when confronted with unadulterated racism,” Johnson wrote to Earle-Sears in a statement provided by the GOP nominee’s campaign. “I have always been a good investor and that’s why I’m investing in you.”

Johnson previously donated to former Democratic Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who failed to win a second term against current Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin in 2021. He also supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

An older white woman held up a racially-charged sign in support of left-wing gender ideology to protest Earle-Sears’ presence at an Arlington County School Board meeting on Aug. 21. The Republican nominee spoke at the gathering to criticize the county’s bathroom and locker room policies allowing biological males in female spaces.

“Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then blacks can’t share my water foundation,” the sign read.

🚨 NEW AD: Abigail Spanberger is hiding from voters because she’s sold out to extremist nonsense.

You have my word I will always stand with you and with common sense. pic.twitter.com/2RT8FaaQMO

— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) August 22, 2025

“I’m disgusted, but not surprised. This is the ‘tolerant’ left Abigail Spanberger defends,” Earle-Sears wrote on the social media platform X. “There is no place for this disgusting hatred in our Commonwealth. Anyone who doesn’t condemn this sign is complicit in approving it.”

Spanberger posted a statement on X the following morning decrying the sign as “racist” and “abhorrent.”

Spanberger has consistently led Winsome-Sears in fundraising throughout the race. The Democratic nominee ended June with $15.2 million in the bank while Earle-Sears had roughly $4.5 million on hand.

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