Winsome Went on the Attack

The Virginia Gubernatorial Debate in Norfolk

Both Virginia gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle Sears met last night in Norfolk for their first and only scheduled debate.

According to the media Sears is behind and therefore needed to score a knockout in the debate. I don’t really believe the polls; I think the race is much closer, but I do think Winsome debated like she was behind. She was the more aggressive candidate. And I think Spanberger was the more subdued candidate, she was more cautious, and she seemed to debate with the main goal of not losing.

Winsome may have been a little too aggressive because she interrupted a few too many times, and at least in one instance her interruption may have helped her opponent. That is, she prompted Spanberger to give a better response. For her part Spanberger was very disciplined, and I don’t think made any real mistakes. She did, however, fail to answer two key questions, and whether or not her failure to answer those questions will hurt her with the voters I’m not sure.

Naturally, I have a few thoughts on the debate, and here they are.

First, Spanberger’s favorite line of the night, and maybe of the campaign, “I am a mother of three daughters in public schools.” At one point she pointed out that her 9th grade daughter was in the audience. The only other political candidate who I can recall talking about their children as much was Joe Biden, with his frequent mentions of the late Beau Biden.

I think Spanberger believes that having three daughters in public school gives her political cover on so many issues. On crime, she can point to her being tough because she has three daughters, on the issue of education she can point to having three daughters in school, and on the subject of allowing boys to play in girls ’sports she can skip answering the question directly and remind voters that she has three daughters in public school.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever heard her mention her husband. I think there is a Mr. Spanberger, and I assume it was he who drove the 9th grade daughter to Norfolk for the debate. As I remember you can only drive so far on a learner’s permit.

Also, I thought the moderators were fair. Since I am only familiar with political debates being moderated by Democrats such as Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper and Candy Crowley I forgot moderators can be non-biased. The moderators last night were good; they seemed to play it down the middle. They pressed both candidates, and they even asked good follow up questions!

I give them credit, they didn’t just gloss over the Jay Jones violent text controversy like I thought they would, instead they posted his damning text messages up for the candidates and the audience to see. This topic came up early in the debate, and Sears challenged Spanberger to ask Democratic Attorney General Candidate Jay Jones to drop out of the race. While Spanberger denounced Jones for his texts she wouldn’t go so far as asking him to drop out of the race. And she wouldn’t go as far as rescinding her endorsement of his candidacy.

I think Sears was wise to hit Spanberger for her continued support for Jones, but I think Sears should have asked her bluntly, “Do you still plan on voting for Jay Jones for Attorney General.”

The issue of Governor Youngkin’s executive order banning biological males, who identify as girls, playing on girls’ sports teams, came up. Spanberger was asked directly if she would rescind the order if elected. She wouldn’t answer the question. The moderator asked her again! She floundered for several seconds, and then Winsome interrupted and pressed her.

Finally, an exasperated Spanberger conceded, “I don’t want nude men in the girl’s locker rooms.” That sounds commonsensical, but for Spanberger a transgendered boy is not a man. For Spanberger a naked transgendered boy is a girl and shouldn’t be kept from the girl’s locker room.

Also, I would point out that she never said that she was opposed to boys in girls’ sports. On this question Sears was wrong to interrupt. She would have been better off just to let Spanberger continue her word salad.

Later in the debate Spanberger tried to claim the issue of affordability. The cost of living is very high; Virginians feel it every day. This was a perfect opportunity for Sears to hit her. But I fear Sears missed it. While in Congress Spanberger voted for Bidenomics.

She voted for Biden’s massive, Orwellian named, spending bill, the American Rescue Plan Act. This was passed as the economy was reopening, which only increased the deficit and fueled inflation.

Even the famed Democratic economist Larry Summers warned his fellow Democrats that massive spending in early 2021 would lead to high inflation yet Abigail Spanberger still went along with the Democrats and voted for the massive spending. A big economic policy mistake and Sears could have rightly argued that this proves that Spanberger’s judgement is bad. Too bad to be Governor of Virginia.

The fact is that Abigail Spanberger did so much damage in congress by voting for Biden’s policies that there is nothing that she can do as Governor to return Virginians to pre-Biden prices.

Sears should have said, Abigail, you are complaining about inflation. Don’t you remember that you voted for it?

I do think Sears won the debate, by I’d say a split decision, but I doubt the debate changed many minds. I am now, however, looking forward to the Attorney General debate.

David Shephard is the author of two books: Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale.

Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé: Shephard, David: 9781892538802: Amazon.com: Books