Virginia governor candidates trade barbs in fiery election debate | US politics
Democrat Abigail Spanberger faced off against Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, on Thursday in the only public debate in the state’s gubernatorial race, days after the Democratic nominee for attorney general was embroiled in a texting and abuse controversy involving her rivals.
Spanberger, a former congressman who left Washington to run for governor now held by a Republican, has a four-point lead in the race to tighten ahead of next month’s gubernatorial election.
The debate was the only one held in the cycle, and it escalated into a heated confrontation at Norfolk State University.
Spanberger was asked whether he still supported Jay Jones’ candidacy for attorney general amid a controversy over messages to a former Republican speaker of the state legislature in which he reflected on “putting two bullets in the head” and urinating on the graves of other opponents.
“Jay Jones comments Spanberger said, “I blamed them when I found out about them, and I will blame them at every opportunity,” but backed off his continued support, saying, “It’s the voters’ responsibility to make a choice based on that information.”
“We are all doing our individual races,” he added. “Everyone should make their own decision.”
Earle-Sears took his chance and fought back.
“But I actually want to ask this first question: Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and tell him you need to quit racing?” he said.
The message debate was a top issue, but not the only one, as Earle-Sears sought to gain sway over a number of divisive political-cultural issues, including abortion and transgender women in women’s sports.
“Are you going to change in a gym where men are naked in the locker rooms?” Earle-Sears asked Spanberger. “Will you do this, Abigail? I don’t think he will. What about your daughters? … Won’t you answer?”
The results of the two east coast governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey are expected to provide useful signals about the direction of political trends across the country.
New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli threatened to sue Democratic rival Mikie Sherrill after she accused him of being complicit in the nation’s opioid epidemic during Wednesday’s debate.
In another tightening race, Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of profiting from the crisis and claimed that he “killed tens of thousands of people by publishing your misinformation, your propaganda” about pain management and “abuse-resistant” opioids published by his former medical publishing company with the support of the pharmaceutical industry.
Ciattarelli called Sherrill’s accusations “just another desperate tactic in a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate. It’s a lie!” He described it as. On Thursday, the Ciattarelli campaign said it expects to go to court next week to sue Sherrill for defamation.
The New Jersey contest veered wildly; Sherrill described the pork roll, a state breakfast staple, as “disgusting” and triggered counterclaims that no true New Jerseyan would make that claim. Sherrill was born in Virginia.
Last month, Sherrill’s campaign was called into political foul play when the National Archives released Sherrill’s unredacted military records after questions were raised about Sherrill’s involvement in the naval academy cheating scandal. While she was allowed to graduate, Sherrill was not allowed to walk with her other classmates during graduation.
Following Wednesday’s debate, the Ciattarelli campaign claimed Sherrill “cracked” when he brought up the opioid allegation under pressure from “ongoing questions about his refusal to release disciplinary records that would reveal his true role in the cheating scandal.”
While both races head to the polls in less than a month, both are rife with negativity and the problem of widespread political violence.
“At a time when political violence and violent rhetoric have become all too common, Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate is overstepping the mark,” said Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell.
