Martinez campaigns in Virginia

Gov. Susana Martinez is hitting the campaign trail in Virginia this week on behalf of that state’s Republican candidate for governor.

Martinez will be the special guest Thursday at a luncheon in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., hosted by Ed Gillespie’s campaign. Her appearance for Gillespie comes amid criticism of him from civil rights and immigrant rights groups.

Gillespie is trying to appeal to moderate voters in the only Southern state that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won last year.

At the same time, he is trying to hold his party’s more conservative base.

Gillespie has sought to shore up support among conservatives by pledging to crack down on unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes and opposing the removal of Virginia’s Confederate statues. His campaign said earlier this year: “Ed does not support removing any statues — including Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue.”

Gillespie also has tried to keep President Donald Trump at arm’s length, though Trump endorsed the gubernatorial hopeful on Twitter.

Martinez, who has clashed with the president in the past, is scheduled to speak in Democratic-leaning Fairfax County.

Her speech will be a few days before U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, another Trump critic, headlines a get-out-the-vote rally for Gillespie.

The trip is just the latest out-ofstate trip for Martinez, a former chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association who continues to stump for GOP candidates around the country.

She campaigned for Rubio last year and went to an event in Nevada over the summer hosted by state Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s political action committee.

Republicans in Virginia are trying to win back the governor’s office, currently held by former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe.

Governors in Virginia serve a four-year term and cannot succeed themselves.

Martinez’s office said she will leave the state Wednesday evening and return Thursday. The state will not pay for her travel.