In advance of Thursday’s debate between gubernatorial candidates Winsome Earle-Sears and Abigail Spanberger, both the Republican and Democratic party state chairs in Virginia have opinion pieces. Here’s the one from Mark Peake, the Republican chair. We also have one from Lamont Bagby, the Democratic chair.
When Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Abigail Spanberger take the debate stage on Thursday, Virginians deserve to finally get some answers from Ms. Spanberger on the questions that she has been dodging her entire campaign.
First and foremost, Spanberger should state unequivocally if she still supports Jay Jones for attorney general in the wake of his repulsive and violent text messages being revealed, and if so, why.
Jones’ texts showed that he fantasized about “pissing on the graves” of his political opponents, said he would like to put “two bullets” in the head of former Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert, and wished that Gilbert’s children would die in their mother’s arms because “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.” Subsequent reporting alleges that Jones — who wants to be Virginia’s “top cop” — said that if more police officers were killed, they would shoot fewer people.
Those comments are not only disgusting, they are entirely disqualifying for a candidate who wants to hold public office — particularly the office charged with running our commonwealth’s criminal justice system and keeping people safe. Ms. Spanberger has rightly condemned the comments, but she has not called for Jones to drop out of the race.
Ms. Spanberger owes Virginians an explanation for why she still supports Jones’ candidacy. Does she really trust that he has the temperament and moral character to fairly enforce our laws when he openly wished death on children? Would Ms. Spanberger hire someone with similarly violent views in her administration? Most importantly, how can Ms. Spanberger expect Virginians to take her denunciation of political violence seriously when she refuses to hold someone on the ticket with her accountable for supporting it?
Ms. Spanberger should also have to answer for why she herself fueled the flames of discord by calling on her supporters to “let your rage fuel you” — even as multiple Republican lawmakers had faced credible death threats.
Additionally, Ms. Spanberger should finally take a firm and clear position on the issue of allowing biological males to participate in female athletics. In many cases, Ms. Spanberger has literally run away from reporters pressing for an answer on this question.
The Spanberger campaign wants to pretend that this is a non-issue, but nothing could be further from the truth. Multiple Virginia high schools are now at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal funding because they refuse to comply with Title IX requirements that students use restroom and locker room facilities and compete on sports teams that align with their biological sex.Â
Moreover, we have seen the alarming consequences of allowing far-left gender ideologues to override common sense when it comes to bathroom and locker room policies.
Earlier this year, 58-year-old registered sex offender Richard Cox exposed himself in female locker rooms at Arlington County’s Washington Liberty High School, Wakefield High School, and Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center. Staff at the facilities informed concerned women and mothers that Cox had a right to access the locker rooms because he claimed he was transgender. Subsequent reporting also revealed that Cox exposed himself to women inside two Planet Fitness locker rooms in Fairfax County, but Democrat Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano declined to charge him.
Governor Youngkin has signed an executive order prohibiting biological males from using locker rooms for female athletes, and from participating in organized women’s sports. Lt. Gov. Earle-Sears has said she supports this order, but Ms. Spanberger has indicated that she will not.
Voters deserve to know — where does she stand? Will she side with the radical voices in her own party or with the common-sense moms and dads who want to protect their daughters from predators like Richard Cox?
As pertinent as these questions are, even more difficult for Ms. Spanberger on the debate stage will be answering for her record in Congress. Despite billing herself as a bipartisan moderate, Ms. Spanberger has racked up a far-left voting record that says she has more in common with progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders than the common-sense, everyday Virginians she is asking to vote for her.
To start with, while campaigning on lowering costs for Virginians, Ms. Spanberger omits that she voted for every penny of the $7.3 trillion in inflationary spending under the Biden administration. Any cost-of-living pains facing Virginians are a direct result of the spending spree Ms. Spanberger and her Democrat colleagues went on over the past four years.
Ms. Spanberger has also toed the progressive party line on culture war issues, voting against the Parents’ Bill of Rights and signing on as a co-sponsor of the so-called “Equality Act,” a bill that, among other radical provisions, “prohibits an individual from being denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity,” according to a summary of the text.
On the flip side, Lt. Gov. Earle-Sears has nothing but answers for Virginians. Her record in the Youngkin-Sears administration is one of helping achieve lower taxes, more than $125 billion in new private-sector investment, and tens of thousands of new jobs. She’s laid out a platform of common-sense policies she would pursue as governor to build on Governor Youngkin’s progress, including eliminating the hated car tax, protecting Right to Work, and keeping men out of women’s sports and locker rooms.
The best path forward for our commonwealth couldn’t be clearer, and that will be on full display on the debate stage this week.
Mark Peake is chair of the Virginia Republican Party. He is also a state senator from Lynchburg.
