Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) released her first negative ad in Virginia’s gubernatorial race on Thursday, hitting Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) over her response to the Trump administration’s federal workforce cuts.
The 30-second spot, titled “Real Issues,” opens with a clip of Earle-Sears declining to address the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts in Virginia during a CNN interview last week.
“Oh, OK. If this is the way you want to go, then go ahead. I’m just not going to participate, because I want to talk about real issues,” Earle-Sears said when asked if she supports Trump’s purge of the federal workforce.
The spot wraps with a narrator stating “It’s a real issue that Sears supports Trump, not Virginians.”
Virginia Democrats have sought to tie the state’s Republicans to Trump’s federal workforce cuts, which have had a large impact throughout the state given its close proximity to Washington, D.C., and large military population.
Earle-Sears and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) have, in turn, focused on job growth in Virginia’s private sector during the Youngkin administration.
The ad also comes days after Trump said he “would” endorse Earle-Sears, but appeared to stop short of giving her a full endorsement.
“I think probably, yeah, she’s got a tough race. She shouldn’t, she shouldn’t, because the candidate she’s running against is not very good, but I think she’s got a tough race,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
The latest Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) polling average shows Spanberger leading Earle-Sears in the race 45.2 percent to 36 percent. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as “lean Democratic.”
