Virginia’s status as a “right-to-work” state and workforce challenges were top of mind for the two gubernatorial candidates as they stumped at the same event for the first time in the 2025 election cycle on Friday.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears called out her opponent, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Henrico County, in a morning speech for Spanberger’s support of the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act, that would affect so-called “right-to-work” laws in 27 states.
Such laws prohibit security agreements — contracts that require an employee to support a union in some way — between employers and unions.
“Our ‘right-to-work’ law is a cornerstone of our success. It ensures that employment is not tied to union membership,” Earle-Sears said in her address at the Virginia Chamber Foundation’s annual economic summit and forum. “[Spanberger] co-sponsored legislation that would have forced all states to accept union mandates without state debate. Had it passed she would have been responsible for dismantling Virginia’s right-to-work and our state’s competitive advantage.”
The PRO Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 with a 225-206 vote. Of those 225 members who voted in favor, five were Republicans. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and has not yet received a floor vote in that chamber.
Earle-Sears said she would “fiercely protect” the current law in Virginia if elected governor.
“Abigail made clear today that she is focused on providing stability for Virginia’s economy, investing in tomorrow’s workforce through career training and early childhood education programs, and bringing new capital investment to all corners of Virginia,” Connor Joseph, a spokesperson for Spanberger’s campaign, said later Friday in response to Earle-Sears’ comment.
Spanberger’s focus is on workforce issues
Spanberger did not call out her opponent by name during her afternoon speech, or address the criticism leveled against her that morning. She noted, instead, that Virginia’s next governor should be ready to mitigate uncertainty caused by tariffs and potential trade wars threatened by President-elect Donald Trump against international trade partners.
Those tariffs, she argued, could increase the cost of everyday goods and services for Virginians and hurt businesses.
Spanberger focused much of her address on a problem that has come up in her conversations with business owners: the struggle to build and maintain a workforce. She noted that investing in early childhood education and affordable child care would be one way to tackle that issue.
“I have met far too many parents across Virginia who sometimes make the hard choice to back away from the workforce, all because the cost of child care may be greater than the parents’ take-home pay,” she said.
She said that as governor, she would build on the progress made by the Youngkin and Northam administrations to make sure more families can afford child care. She said she would also work to ensure that K-12 schools are adequately and appropriately funded.
She noted that there were thousands of teacher vacancies across the commonwealth at the start of the 2024-25 school year and that Virginia needs to do more to recruit and retain teachers to support the future workforce. Spanberger noted that higher education institutions, specifically community colleges and HBCUs, also need more resources to adequately train the future workforce.
Economic and business agendas of the 2 gubernatorial candidates
The two candidates for governor outlined their economic and business plans for their respective administrations, should they win, in speeches at Friday’s economic summit in Richmond. The event was the first of the 2025 election cycle where both Spanberger and Earle-Sears made campaign pitches.
Spanberger and Earle-Sears are the only Democratic and Republican candidates, respectively, to enter the race so far.
Earle-Sears stumped on the business and economic successes of the last three years under Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She noted that, since 2022, nearly $71 billion in capital investment has been committed through companies that have moved or opened operations in Virginia including Boeing, Amazon, Raytheon and the Lego Group.
She pointed to other groups, including Hilton and Northrup Grumman, that have expanded their operations in Virginia as examples, as well as thousands of “high-growth highway” startup companies. She noted that she and Youngkin have “cut red tape” and “streamlined regulations” and permitting to “foster a business-friendly environment,” while enacting universal license recognition which, she said, allowed professionals to relocate to Virginia.
She said, if elected governor, she would work to strengthen public-private partnerships, continuing a push to attract and retain “world-class” businesses,and invest in work force development.
Spanberger stumped on her experience in Congress, where she worked to support businesses by expanding export opportunities through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and through work on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
She noted that, if elected governor, she would push for investments on shovel-ready sites and marketing for businesses, and would support affordable home ownership as well as investments in education.
