On Thursday night, a debate for Virginia governor did not go well for Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger:
AG candidate Jay Jones, who has refused to back down from comments he made in text messages involving his 2022 opponent (Todd Gilbert) using rhetoric involving "two bullets to the head," has become the focal point of Virginia's upcoming elections. As reported by The Hill, the topic caused a tense exchange in Thursday's gubernatorial debate:
At the beginning of the debate, the moderators asked Spanberger when she first knew about the texts and whether she still endorsed Jones. Spanberger said she found out about the texts when they were released publicly, but she would not directly answer the second question.
'The comments that Jay Jones made are absolutely abhorrent,' Spanberger said. 'I denounced them when I learned of them and I will denounce them every opportunity that I get. As a mother, as a public servant, as a candidate for governor, I denounce them.'
She denounced the words, but not the man who made them.
When pressed repeatedly by Earle-Sears and the moderator, she stopped short of retracting her endorsement of Jones.
Earle-Sears, for her part, repeatedly urged Spanberger to call on Jones to drop his bid. Every time, Spanberger stared ahead and refused to respond directly to her opponent on the subject.
Yikes.
Spanberger also refused to say whether she would let boys in girls' bathrooms and locker rooms.
The U.S. Education Department is currently withholding funding from one of Virginia's most prominent school districts because the district is punishing students who don't like the opposite sex in their bathrooms.
Earle-Sears seized the opportunity to continue going after Spanberger on social media following the debate:
Think Spanberger will say otherwise? Or will her silence speak for her?
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