I’ll add to this some early analysis by a columnist in Southwest Virginia. He’s got some interesting data points. This one specifically was interesting:

Here’s how badly Earle-Sears wound up losing: Her 42.8% of the vote was the lowest vote share for a Republican candidate for governor in Virginia since Linwood Holton’s first gubernatorial run in 1965, back in a time when Republicans weren’t expected to even be competitive in the state, much less win. This was a historic blow-out. Earle-Sears polled fewer votes than either of the other two Republicans on the ticket. Even lightly funded John Reid, the party’s candidate for lieutenant governor, won more votes than she did.

Based on vote share, Earle-Sears was effectively an “also ran”.