{"id":1056478,"date":"2025-10-09T20:46:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T00:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056478"},"modified":"2025-10-09T20:46:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T00:46:03","slug":"abigail-spanberger-wins-virginia-gubernatorial-debate-while-earle-sears-had-unhinged-disqualifying-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/abigail-spanberger-wins-virginia-gubernatorial-debate-while-earle-sears-had-unhinged-disqualifying-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Abigail Spanberger Wins Virginia Gubernatorial Debate, While Earle-Sears Had Unhinged, \u201cDisqualifying\u201d Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Abigail Spanberger beat Winsome Earle-Sears in tonight\u2019s debate for the Virginia gubernatorial election. For Virginians across the Commonwealth to see, Spanberger proved that she will put Virginia first, while Winsome Earle-Sears was completely unhinged \u2014 interrupting Spanberger over 60 times \u2014 and proved again that she is only out for Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout tonight\u2019s debate, Spanberger presented a clear vision to make the lives of Virginians better by lowering costs, growing Virginia’s economy, and strengthening Virginia’s schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Spanberger provided measured, candid answers, Winsome Earle-Sears spent her entire debate interrupting and lying, struggling to defend Trump\u2019s Big Ugly Bill and DOGE\u2019s mass-firing of hard-working Virginians, which have thrown Virginia\u2019s economy into crisis and raised costs for Virginia families. Earle-Sears also crumbled when she was called out for her extreme abortion stances, including supporting a six-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to Abigail Spanberger\u2019s commanding debate win, <\/em>DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbigail Spanberger clearly beat Winsome Earle-Sears during tonight\u2019s debate. Abigail presented a true vision for Virginia that lowers costs, grows the economy, and protects women\u2019s reproductive freedoms. Meanwhile, Winsome Earle-Sears continued to defend Donald Trump\u2019s extreme agenda that is raising costs on Virginia families and destroying jobs. Winsome Earle-Sears also flailed when Abigail called her out for her extreme support of a six-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. Her performance was disqualifying, interrupting over 60 times in an attempt to distract from her stances that Virginians clearly reject. Between now and November 4, the DNC is all hands on deck to make sure Abigail Spanberger wins on Election Day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the key points from tonight\u2019s debate:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key moment: <\/strong>Abigail Spanberger made clear that lowering costs will be her top priority<\/a> as governor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key quote: <\/strong>Winsome Earle-Sears said, \u201cI will take all endorsements, including the President\u2019s,\u201d despite the fact that Donald Trump has conspicuously not endorsed her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key quote: <\/strong>Winsome Earle-Sears said<\/a> that banning gay marriage and firing someone for being gay is \u201cnot discrimination.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key fact check: <\/strong>Despite Earle-Sears saying she is creating jobs in Virginia, unemployment in Virginia rose<\/a> for seven straight months since Trump took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interruption counter: <\/strong>Earle-Sears talked over and interrupted Spanberger over 60 times, trying to distract from her extreme, unpopular positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abigail Spanberger beat Winsome Earle-Sears in tonight\u2019s debate for the Virginia gubernatorial election. For Virginians across the Commonwealth to see, Spanberger proved that she will put Virginia first, while Winsome Earle-Sears was completely unhinged \u2014 interrupting Spanberger over 60 times \u2014 and proved again that she is only out for Donald Trump. Throughout tonight\u2019s debate, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAbigail Spanberger Wins Virginia Gubernatorial Debate, While Earle-Sears Had Unhinged, \u201cDisqualifying\u201d Performance - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/abigail-spanberger-wins-virginia-gubernatorial-debate-while-earle-sears-had-unhinged-disqualifying-performance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-10T00:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-10T00:46:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jared Carmeli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jared Carmeli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/abigail-spanberger-wins-virginia-gubernatorial-debate-while-earle-sears-had-unhinged-disqualifying-performance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/abigail-spanberger-wins-virginia-gubernatorial-debate-while-earle-sears-had-unhinged-disqualifying-performance\/\",\"name\":\"Abigail Spanberger Wins Virginia Gubernatorial Debate, While Earle-Sears Had Unhinged, \u201cDisqualifying\u201d Performance - 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