CLOSING STATEMENTS: Spanberger says she’ll always put Virginians first, especially now with the attacks on Virginia’s workforce, Trump’s tariffs; will work to strengthen schools, lower costs, etc. Earle-Sears ends the debate interrupting/shouting, as she did all night. That debate was utterly ridiculous, I’ve go to tsay, and we really shouldn’t have these stupid things! Having said that, Spanberger did fine, Earle-Sears was out of control, and I don’t think this will change the dynamics of the race.
UPDATE 7:56 pm: Silly question on who their favorite president is. Spanberger says Thomas Jefferson, Earle-Sears says George Washington.
UPDATE 7:54 pm: Earle-Sears won’t say she’d do anything different than Youngkin. Spanberger says she supports Youngkin’s efforts on advanced nuclear, would work to bring Virginia back to being the #1 place for business.
UPDATE 7:51 pm: Question on marijuana. Spanberger says she was a federal agent who worked narcotics cases, had a bill signed into law by President Trump restricting fentanyl flows into the country…we need transparency, clear market in order to be enforced. Earle-Sears says she believes in medicinal marijuana, but said her employees on marijuana could “blow everything up.”
UPDATE 7:48 pm: Question on education. Earle-Sears says she doesn’t “co-parent” with the government, attacks Spanberger (falsely) for supposedly voting against parents; also goes back to COVID school closures. Spanberger says she’s a mother of three daughters in Virginia public schools, and so yes, parents should be involved “every step of the way, as I have been…parents’ engagement is extraordinarly important…does not support taking public dollars out of public schools.” Earle-Sears keeps falsely claiming Spanberger is lying, which is in and of itself a lie.
UPDATE 7:44 pm: Question about immigration. Spanberger says she’s a former federal agent, that any time there is an arrest or search warrant, local law enforcment/resources should be employed. Says she’d never support sanctuary policies in Virginia. Earle-Sears keeps interrupting, the moderators keep telling her to let Spanberger speak. Earle-Sears ranting about “4,000 illegals who are criminally here,” “communist Chinese gangs,” etc., supposedly because Spanberger didn’t vote to shut down the border, etc. All wild distortions/lies. Of course, Earle-Sears doesn’t answer the question about being concerned about immigrants afraid to report crimes.
UPDATE 7:38 pm: Earle-Sears dodges the question on abortion, starts attacking Spanberger as supposedly wanting to have abortion up to/including birth. Spanberger talks about the Dobbs decision, Earle-Sears keeps interrupting. Spanberger says if Earle-Sears becomes governor, she’d restrict abortion access. That’s true, obviously. Earle-Sears keeps interrupting, falsely claiming Spanberger is lying, etc. The moderators can’t control Earle-Sears. Spanberger says Earle-Sears has “threatened murder to women who have had abortions.” Spanberger says she supports current Virginia laws on abortion.
UPDATE 7:32 pm: Question on transgender kids on sports teams. Spanberger says she’s the mother of three daughters in Virginia public schools and NOTHING is more important to her than the safety of her daughters and all of her students…and that she’s won the endorsement of the VA Police Benevolent Association. Asks why her opponent suppports efforts to defund public safety. Spanberger says there should never be grown men in girls’ locker rooms (Earle-Sears LIES and claims that Spanberger voted for that – FALSE!). Spanberger says parents and local communities should be in charge of making these decisions. Earle-Sears keeps interrupting. Earle-Sears says she won’t rescind Youngkin’s executive order, knows girls want to have privacy, lies yet again on Spanberger supposedly voting for men in girls’ locker rooms. Earle-Sears says biological men are larger and stronger. Spanberger says Earle-Sears doesn’t think gay couples should be able to marry, that it’s ok to be fired from their job for being gay. Now Earle-Sears is falsely claiming that Spanberger voted to “defund the police.”
UPDATE 7:28 pm: Asked what they admire about the other, Spanberger says she admires Earle-Sears faith and service to her country. Earle-Sears says Spanberger is a devoted mom and loves her parents very much and that she cares. God, debates are so f’ing stupid.
UPDATE 7:26 pm: Question from NSU student about jobs/economy. Earle-Sears take credit for the Youngkin administration supposedly creating tons of jobs, which is false of course. Spanberger says we attract people to our universities from across the country, we want them to stay in Virginia to start businesses, families, careers. Says the cost of buying a house has gone up while Earle-Sears has been in office; points out that Virginia has had 7 months this year of rising unemployment under Youngkin/Earle-Sears.
UPDATE 7:21 pm: Question on data centers. Spanberger says it’s important that they pay their fair share. Also is challenge with energy generation, requires real leadership to avert an energy crisis. Says Earle-Sears has supported Trump administration taking millions of dollars in energy investment away from Virginia. Earle-Sears attacks the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), because of course she does, and completely distorts what the VCEA does – also says “all you want is wind and solar,” which is again a bizarre thing to say on multiple levels. Then references “microreactors,” which is completely absurd, then refers to the oxymoron of “clean coal”…and again with the “what happens when the sun goes down” idiocy.
UPDATE 7:18 pm: Question about federal workers/government shutdown. Earle-Sears of course blames it all on Democrats, which of course is a wild lie. Not that the moderators will call her on that. Earle-Sears won’t ever criticize Trump or Congressional Republicans, just keeps blaming Democrats. Spanberger says she was in Congress during the longest government shutdown in history, worked across the aisle to make a deal. Says Earle-Sears has made light of federal workers losing their jobs.
UPDATE 7:16 pm: Spanberger keeps saying she’s denounced political rhetoric, Earle-Sears has not done the same. Earle-Sears keeps interrupting. BTW, these NexStar moderators SUCK…lettting Earle-Sears talk over Spanberger, than claiming they’re talking over EACH OTHER??? WTF?
UPDATE 7:14 pm: Spanberger says when violent rhetoric comes from her side of the aisle, she refuses to denounce it. Says she’s the only candidate on stage who’s put forth a plan for affordability.
UPDATE 7:11 pm: Earle-Sears asked about Trump saying he hates his enemies. Earle-Sears says she’s a Christian…and she would not say that. Again, Earle-Sears goes back to questioning Spanberger on Jay Jones…Spanberger ignores her. Earle-Sears keeps hitting Spanberger, demanding she demand Jones leave the race. Also, asked about Trump’s endorsement, Earle-Sears she’ll take any/all endorsements, including Trump’s. Now, Earle-Sears ranting about the sun not shining and the wind not blowing. WTF?
UPDATE 7:07 pm: Question on Jay Jones. Abigail Spanberger reiterates that the comments are “absolutely abhorrent” and says she’ll denounce them every opportunity she gets. Says Earle-Sears only denounces violence when HER side is the target, that she’s routinely referred to her as the “enemy,” which is not the case. Earle-Sears keeps interrupting, very obnoxious. On whether she’ll continue to endorses Jay Jones, Spanberger says that Republicans had the text messages and didn’t release them for years. Now, the voters can decide what to do with this information – it’s up to them to make the choice, says she’s running her own individual race, just as Earle-Sears is running HER own race.
UPDATE 7:03 pm: First question is on the car tax, which of course helps fund local governments. Earle-Sears immediately changes the topic to Jay Jones, turns to Abigail Spanberger and challenges her on Jones’ comments. Bizarre but not unexpected. Spanberger says the car tax is “the most hated tax” in Virginia, but we’d need a plan to eliminate it, and Earle-Sears definitely hasn’t. Earle-Sears keeps interrupting, can’t control herself apparently. We’ll see how these constant interruptions will play.
UPDATE 7 pm: Now going over the rules.
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At 7 pm this evening, we’re going to get our one and only gubernatorial debate of the 2025 campaign. For the rules, see here:
“Former U.S. Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and current Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears will each get 60 seconds to answer questions and 30 seconds for each follow-up question or rebuttal during the Virginia Governor Debate, scheduled from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2025. The debate, hosted by WAVY-TV 10, is being held on the campus of Norfolk State University.
A coin toss will determine if Spanberger or Earle-Sears will be asked the first question at Thursday night’s debate.
The questions will be focused on local and regional issues impacting communities across Virginia and candidate-specific subjects.
The candidates will be provided with a blank notebook and a pen, but will not be allowed to use their own previously written notes, papers, campaign materials, or use any props during the debate.
Spanberger and Earle-Sears will each give a closing statement. They’ll have 30 seconds to speak about themselves and their plans if elected. There will be no rebuttals allowed during the closing statements.”
Here’s a list of stations where you can watch the debate.
The election, of course, is on November 4, just 26 days from now, with early voting underway since September 19, and with around 446,000 votes cast so far (there were about 3.3 million total votes cast in 2021).
As for the state of the race right now, the latest public polling (not counting right-wing “polls”) has Spanberger up between 9 and 12 points. Also note that Donald Trump is very unpopular in Virginia, with about a 41% approval rating, so expect to hear Spanberger mention his name repeatedly tonight – and tie him (and the damage his administration has done and continues to do to Virginia’s economy) to Earle-Sears.
For her part, Earle-Sears is likely to (falsely) claim that Spanberger will turn Virginia into California or whatever; that she wants “men in girls’ locker rooms” (100% false); that she loves “criminal illegal aliens” (also 100% false); that she supposedly wants people to be enraged (in fact, Spanberger said the exact opposite – if you’re feeling angry/frustrated/etc, channel that PEACEFULLY into phone banking, door knocking, voting, etc.); blah blah blah. Earle-Sears will also likely bring up (many times?) Jay Jones’ text messages to Republican Del. Carrie Coyner, and it will definitely be worth watching how Spanberger handles that (presumably, she’ll repeat her statement from a few days ago, in which she expressed her “disgust” with Jones’ comments, then either pivot back to the things she wants to talk about (the economy, jobs, healthcare, the government shutdown, DOGE, etc), maybe also attack Earle-Sears for the MANY extreme, far-out things Earle-Sears has said and done over the years.
Anyway, see here for live video. I’ll be live blogging the debate – mostly to highlight anything that jumps out at me, as opposed to trying to be comprehensive on this. Finally, I’d just argue that debates are kind of ridiculous, as by this point, everyone should know where the candidates stand on the issues, who they are and what makes them tick, etc. So this is more for entertainment purposes than anything else? Still, a “gaffe” tonight could have some impact on the race, so even if the whole thing is kinda dumb, it still matters…
