Democrat Abigail Spanberger faced off against Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, in the only public debate in that state’s governor’s race on Thursday, days after the Democratic nominee for attorney general was embroiled in a texting and misconduct controversy relating to his opponents.
Spanberger, a former congresswoman who left Washington to run for the governorship, which is currently held by a Republican, is leading by four points in a tightening race ahead of next month’s gubernatorial election.
The debate was the only one to be held in the cycle and turned into a fiery face-off, held at Norfolk State University.
Spanberger was asked whether she still endorsed Jay Jones for attorney general amid a row over texts in which he had mused about “two bullets to the head” to a former Republican speaker in the state legislature and urinating on the graves of other opponents.
“The comments that Jay Jones made are absolutely abhorrent,” Spanberger said. “I denounced them when I learned of them and I will denounce them every opportunity that I get,” she said, but deflected on her continued support, saying “it’s up to voters to make a choice based on this information.”
“We are all running our individual races,” she added. “It is up to every person to make their own decision.”
Earle-Sears took her chance and shot back.
“But really, what I want to ask for this first question is: Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and say to him, you must leave the race?” she said.
The texting controversy was the hot button issue, but not the sole topic, as Earle-Sears sought to dominate over a range of divisive political-cultural subjects, including abortion and transgender women in female sports.
“Are you going to change in a gym where men are nude in the locker rooms?” Earle-Sears asked Spanberger. “Are you going to do that, Abigail? I don’t think you will. What about your girl children? … Are you not going to answer?”
Related: Virginia governor’s race shaken up by ‘violent’ texts sent by ally of Democratic candidate
The outcome of two US east coast governor’s races, in Virginia and New Jersey, are expected to give useful signals about the direction of political travel nationally.
In New Jersey, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, has threatened to sue his Democratic opponent, Mikie Sherrill, after she accused him intheir debate on Wednesday of complicity in the nation’s opioid epidemic.
In another tightening race, Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of profiting from the crisis, claiming that he had “killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda” about pain management and “abuse-resistant” opioids, as published by his former medical publishing company, with support from the pharmaceutical industry.
Ciattarelli called Sherrill’s charges “another desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate. It’s a lie!” On Thursday, the Ciattarelli campaign said it expected to go to court next week to sue Sherrill for defamation.
The New Jersey contest has veered wildly, with Sherrill describing pork roll, a state breakfast staple, as “gross”, triggering opposing claims that a true New Jerseyan would not make that claim. Sherrill was born in Virginia.
Last month, Sherrill’s campaign called a political foul when the National Archives released Sherrill’s unredacted military records after questions were raised about her involvement in a naval academy cheating scandal. While allowed to graduate, Sherrill was not permitted to walk with the rest of her classmates at commencement.
Following Wednesday’s debate, the Ciattarelli campaign claimed that Sherrill had “cracked” when she brought up the opioid claim under pressure from “continued questions about her refusal to release disciplinary records that would reveal her true role” in the cheating scandal.
With both races heading to the polls in less than a month, both are suffused with negativity and the pervading question of political violence.
“In a time where political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent,” said the Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell, “Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate crosses the line.”
