Category: Virginia gubernatorial race
Democrat Spanberger defeats Republican Earle-Sears for Virginia governor
The Republican candidate for the Virginia governor’s office was unable to defeat Democrat candidate Abigail Spanberger.
The election was called by the Associated Press as well as the New York Times by about 8 p.m. local time, only an hour after the polls closed at 7 p.m.
Polling showed Spanberger had a large lead on the Republican throughout nearly the entire contest.
Winsome Earle-Sears, the state’s lieutenant governor, tried to gain ground by attacking Spanberger over damaging leaked texts from attorney general candidate Jay Jones. He had called for the death of a Republican colleague and his children in the texts, and while Spanberger condemned the message, she refused to rescind her endorsement.
Earle-Sears also gained some traction when a white Democrat protester created a sign with a racist message against the Republican.
“Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then blacks can’t share my water fountain,” the sign read in all caps.
However, polling showed Spanberger had a large lead on the Republican throughout nearly the entire contest. At one point an average of polls had the Democrat ahead by 7.4 points, with as much as a double-digit lead in some polls.
The Earle-Sears campaign suffered with conservatives, and her earlier attacks on President Donald Trump kept him from ever endorsing her campaign
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Earle-Sears’ campaign bus bursts into flames days before election for Virginia governor
The campaign bus for the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia caught on fire just five days before the pivotal election.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears confirmed the incident in a post on social media Thursday but offered few details.
‘I’m thinking of the Lt. Governor and her team after this scary incident.’
“While en-route to an event, our campaign bus caught fire,” she posted. “Everyone is safe. Thank you to the first responders who got to the scene quickly — we are so grateful for you.”
Her Democratic competitor, Abigail Spanberger, posted about the incident as well.
“I’m relieved to hear Winsome Earle-Sears and her team are safe after her campaign bus caught on fire this afternoon,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “I’m grateful to our first responders for their quick action — and I’m thinking of the Lt. Governor and her team after this scary incident.”
Authorities have not released any details yet about the incident.
WCAV-TV published a photograph of the fire that was sent to them by a viewer. A second photo from the scene shows that the bus was mostly destroyed by the fire.
A spokesperson with the Earle-Sears team said first responders were still at the scene at about 3 p.m. local time.
RELATED: VIDEO: Earle-Sears crushes Democratic candidate over death-wish texts during gubernatorial debate
Most polling has shown Spanberger with a lead in the race, but Earle-Sears has gained some ground and closed some of the gap as Election Day approaches.
Spanberger might have given Earle-Sears an opportunity to persuade voters into the Republican column after the Democrat refused to retract her endorsement of Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones, who texted death wishes against a Republican and his children.
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