DNC Candidate Transcripts The closing weeks of the state’s race for governor are shaking
The final month of Virginia’s gubernatorial race looked set to focus on issues like affordability, abortion and transgender rights.
Then on Friday, it was revealed that the Democratic nominee in the November resignations, for the state’s attorney general, suggested that a state legislative Republican be shot in text messages three years ago.
The development, which has already inflamed leaders’ sensibilities around political violence, provided an unexpected jolt at home in what has been a relatively intense election season in Virginia, one of the first major statewide contests since last year’s presidential race.
The message whip from Democrat Jay Jones quickly drew criticism from members of both parties, putting Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee and front man in the governor’s race, on the defense during a crucial moment and suddenly giving her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Gord Winsome Ayers, a potential opening.
Spanberger maintained significant advantages over Sears Earle in polling and fundraising throughout the campaign. But with four weeks to go before Election Day — and early voting — development is a major factor shaping the dynamics of the final days of the race.
“This definitely qualifies as something that crosses over, and there aren’t many events that do that anymore,” said Zach Roday, a Virginia-based Republican strategist who is not working with Earl Sears’ campaign.
Roday said Spanberger’s polling and money leadership means she “can shave off her margin in some key areas.”
However, he said, the news “absolutely tightens up the race.”
Bipartisan backlash
The backlash to Jones’ 2022 texts — in which he suggested Republican Todd Gilbert, the Virginia House speaker, should get “two bullets to the head” — was swift, intense, and massive.
The story, first reported National reviewquickly drawing the attention of top national Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who on Sunday called for the social gathering Jones drops out of the race.
Democrats also condemned it. In a statement on Friday, Spanberger said she spoke “candidly” with Jones about his “disgust by what he said and sent” and “made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words.”
“What I also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next governor of our commonwealth, I will always condemn the language of violence in our politics,” she added.
But Spanberger and other prominent Virginia Democrats stopped short of calling on Jones to drop out. Her campaign did not respond to additional questions Monday about whether it felt Jones should end his run.
Earl Sears has seized on that decision, calling Jones out on the leak and saying that Spanberger’s continued support for him rules her out from running for governor as well.
“Let me be clear — Spanberger’s continued support for Jay Jones emanates from the top office,” Earl Siars said at a news conference Saturday evening. “She and her irresponsible party have brought us to this point.”
The Earl Sears campaign also began running news-focused digital ads. one Ad clip together A series of news reports about Jones’s texts, interwoven with Spanberger’s earlier praise of Jones.
Jones apologized for the texts, which he sent before he held elected office, saying in a statement that “reading those words made me sick to my stomach” and that he was “embarrassed, ashamed and sorry.”
However, Jones’ texts threaten to have a major impact in the final weeks of the race, especially in the wake of the assassinations of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month and Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman over the summer.
“This is all the campaign will be for the next 30 days,” Roday said of Jones’ texts.
Even before Jones’s texts appeared, political violence was part of Earl Sears’ concluding message.
Last week, I picked her up Make a digital announcement Blaming Democrats for helping to inflame fans of political violence, seizing on Spanberger’s comments last month telling supporters to “let your anger get you riled up.” ((Spanberger campaign She said her statements were Taken “out of context.”)
It was sort of the main focus of her closing message. Earle-Sears has leaned heavily in recent weeks into anti-gender attacks. She focused on criticizing Spanberger’s positions on transgender people’s participation in youth sports and the use of school locker rooms and public bathrooms. It’s an attempt to replicate Republican Gov. Glen Youngen’s successful approach four years ago to focus on parental and cultural issues.
Meanwhile, Spanberger has consistently hammered home and economic issues while associating Sears Earle with Trump. In recent weeks, her closing message was as well Wrapped in an intense focus on reproductive rights Public safety and crime. Spanberger tried to blame Earl Cars for the federal government shutdown, linking it to Trump’s federal workforce cuts, which had a major impact on Virginia.
Challenges remain for Earl Cars
But several activists and strategists from both parties told NBC News that Earl Sears’ opening is likely too little, too late.
A The poll was released on FridayThe survey, conducted before Jones’ transcripts appeared, by The Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Public Policy, showed Spanberger leading Earl Sears 55% to 43% among likely voters, outside the poll’s reported margin of error.
Respondents said that “economy/cost of living/jobs/housing” was their most important issue in the election, according to the poll, ahead of “education/schools” and “policies about transgender students.” The poll also found that 69% of registered voters agreed with Earl Sears’ position that transgender girls should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match the gender they were born with.
Democratic strategists noted that Trump has not yet relied on Earl Cars, even after he visited Virginia on Sunday for an event celebrating the Navy’s 250th anniversary. Trump did not mention Earl Sears, who… Attend the eventeven after he endorsed Jones’ Republican opponent in the state’s attorney race, Jason Miyares, earlier in the day on Social Truth.
“He did her best to bring Donald Trump’s cutting-edge, cost-raising agenda to Virginia, but even he didn’t want anything to do with her desperate and failing campaign,” a Democratic Governors Association spokesman said in a statement Monday.
Additionally, early voting in Virginia began on September 19, and more than 355,000 voters had released their ballots as of Sunday, According to the Virginia Public Access Project. This amounts to more than 10% of all ballots cast in the 2021 governor’s race.
A national Democratic strategist involved in the race acknowledged the severity of the situation for Jones, but expressed confidence that he would not pull Spanberger.
“The No. 1 issue in the governor’s race is the economy,” said the strategist, who was not allowed to comment publicly. “Spanberger is running to cut costs and protect jobs, while Sears is tied to Trump’s job and health care cuts. That was top of mind for voters last week and it is again this week.”
“The same will be true every day until the election,” strategists predicted.