CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears‘s campaign is having to carry on without her, with less than one week before Election Day, after Democrats’ surprise redistricting move called her back to Richmond.

The move from Democrats, the latest in a string of redistricting efforts from both parties, set off a wave of Republican outrage and confusion among voters gathered to see her at a campaign stop in the central part of the state. At a coffee shop in Charlottesville, where Earle-Sears had been scheduled to campaign Tuesday afternoon, her husband Terence Sears took the stage in her place, joined by Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) and Republican lieutenant governor candidate John Reid.

The event was the third one Earle-Sears has had to forgo due to the special session. Despite her absence, supporters packed the room, waving signs and snapping photos as the two men denounced a calculated political maneuver to keep the GOP’s top statewide candidate off the trail during her crucial final week.