VoteVets, a liberal organization that supports veterans who run for office, is launching a half-million-dollar ad campaign to boost the Democratic nominee in the race for Virginia governor by attacking her GOP opponent on cost-of-living concerns, a significant investment ahead of the key off-year election this November.
The race between former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, will be closely watched as a measure of political sentiment 10 months into President Donald Trump’s second term.
VoteVets is hoping that candidates like Spanberger, a former CIA officer, New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill – a former Navy helicopter pilot and Democratic nominee for governor this year in New Jersey – and a host of other Democrats with national security and military service records running in 2026 will help the party win contests up and down the ballot.
“These candidates stand as models for a Democratic Party seeking a new MO: leaders with an avowed commitment to the individuals they serve and whose military service and national security experience offer the reassurance of expertise and integrity,” according to a VoteVets memo detailing the group’s efforts in the second quarter of the year obtained by CNN.
The new ad campaign unveiled Tuesday targets Earle-Sears for supporting GOP policies on taxes and tariffs that Democrats argue have driven up the cost of living – reflecting a potential challenge for Republicans in blue-leaning states like Virginia amid turbulent policymaking in Washington.
The first spot features an Air Force veteran and Virginia resident named Ken, who shares his concerns about affordability. “The cost of living is out of control. And Winsome Earle-Sears would make it worse. A sales tax on groceries? She voted to keep it. New tariffs that’ll drive prices even higher?”
The group says it plans to spend $500,000 on advertising in Virginia through November, targeting voters on broadcast, streaming and on Spotify starting in the Richmond and Norfolk media markets.
“From now through Election Day, VoteVets will be keeping the GOP campaign on defense and aggressively working to reach voters that others in the Democratic ecosystem can’t,” said Matt Corridoni with VoteVets.
With the key off-year race approaching its final sprint, both sides are escalating their attacks, including the new VoteVets effort. Earlier this month, Spanberger’s campaign launched its first negative ad, criticizing Earle-Sears’ comments in a CNN interview about Department of Government Efficiency cuts to the federal workforce.
“Thousands of Virginians are losing their jobs,” the ad says, featuring a clip of Earle-Sears saying “I want to talk about real issues” when asked about the DOGE cuts. “It’s a real issue that Sears supports Trump, not Virginians.”
Earle-Sears, meanwhile, launched a new ad last week branding Spanberger a “Washington insider who voted with Pelosi and Biden every single time.” And Earle-Sears and her allies have been regularly targeting Spanberger with attacks focused on transgender policies, echoing the Trump campaign’s strategy in the closing stretch of the 2024 election.
Spanberger has been a VoteVets-endorsed candidate since she first ran for Congress in 2018 as part of a group of Democratic candidates that helped the party win control of the US House, gaining more than 40 seats that cycle. But the group’s new ad campaign is also notable because it targets Earle-Sears, who is herself a Marine Corps veteran, a part of her background featured in her campaign.
“She’s not a politician. She’s a Marine. Winsome Earle-Sears has a record of service and results,” says an ad for her campaign, featuring a photo of Sears in uniform. Earle-Sears served three years in the Marines, working as an electrician at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, and leaving active duty in 1986.
VoteVets new half-million-dollar ad campaign brings their total commitment to the race to $1 million, after the group had previously contributed $500,000 directly to Spanberger’s campaign in February.
Democrats, meanwhile, are feeling confident about their chances in Virginia this year. The party has won there consistently at the presidential level since Barack Obama’s first run in 2008, but there have been recent signs of competitiveness, including outgoing GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s narrow victory in 2021 and Trump’s 4-point improvement in his margin of defeat between 2020 and last November.
Spanberger has dominated Earle-Sears in fundraising throughout the contest; according to their most recent financial reports, Spanberger had three times as much cash on hand as Earle-Sears, $15.2 million to $4.6 million, as of the end of June.
And even before the new investment from VoteVets, Democrats already had an advertising advantage. According to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact, Spanberger has outspent Earle-Sears by about $5.6 million to $3.2 million through mid-August. For now, no major Republican groups have booked ad time in Virginia in the fall.
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