Guns a Missing Issue in Virginia Governor’s Race

As a Virginia gun owner, I’m getting increasingly concerned about the prospects of a Democrat trifecta in state government starting next year. The Democrat-controlled legislature approved dozens of gun control measures this year, all of which were thankfully vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. If Everytown-endorsed Abigail Spanberger is in the governor’s office during the 2026 session it’s going to be a much different story. 

So why isn’t Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears making the Second Amendment an issue in her campaign? Spanberger is downplaying her anti-gun extremism, but she’s regularly showing this image of her opponent in her campaign ads.

Earle-Sears leaned in to her support for the Second Amendment four years ago during her campaign to become Virginia’s lt. governor. This time around, though, I haven’t seen any mention of the right to keep and bear arms in her campaign ads. She doesn’t even talk about it on her campaign website. 

I’m seeing campaign ads from the Earle-Sears campaign fairly regularly on my TV screen, but I have yet to see a commercial that highlights her support for the Second Amendment or warns voters about Spanberger’s anti-gun extremism. The only ad I remember (and it may be the only ad airing) talks about Spanberger wanting to let boys in girls’ sports and locker rooms and ends with a warning that Spanberger is for “they/them” while Earle-Sears is for “us.” 

If that message is resonating with voters, it hasn’t shown up in any pre-election polling. Spanberger has led in virtually every voter survey, including a ten-point lead in an Emerson College/The Hill poll released today. 

“Independent voters support Spanberger by a 19-point margin; a reversal from January, when they supported Earle-Sears by four points. Notably, the male vote, which traditionally favors the Republican candidate, shifted from a 15-point advantage for Earle-Sears to an even split, with 46 percent supporting each candidate,” Kimball said. 

“Spanberger’s support also increased among voters under 50: what was once a narrow 41 percent to 39 percent edge has grown into a 27-point lead, 59 percent to 32 percent,” he continued. “Meanwhile, Earle-Sears has not consolidated support among older voters; in January, those 50 and older were evenly divided, 43 percent for Spanberger and 42 percent for Earle-Sears. Nine months later, the group remains split with 49 percent for Earle-Sears and 47 percent for Spanberger.”

As I said, Spanberger is downplaying her own support for gun control, but she’s not exactly running away from it either. Under the heading of “Keeping Virginia’s Communities Safe”, Spanberger mentions her support for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, as well as her votes to “crack down on ‘ghost guns,’ set federal standards for safe gun storage, raise the federal age to purchase certain assault-style rifles to 21, and prevent illegal gun trafficking.”

As Governor, Abigail will support efforts to strengthen Virginia’s safe storage laws and keep firearms out of the hands of kids or those who pose a threat to themselves or others. Abigail also believes Virginia should move toward enacting a ban on the manufacturing, sale, and transfer of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines — actions that are proven to reduce mass shootings.

Spanberger’s smart enough not to declare she wants a ban on the possession of AR-15s and “large capacity” magazines, but there’s no way she’d veto something like that if she’s elected governor. She’d also likely sign other bills passed this year that require gun owners to keep their firearms locked up or carried on their person when a minor of any age is present in the home, expand the use of the state’s “red flag” law, remove NRA and USCCA from the list of qualified handgun instructors who can teach Virginia’s concealed carry course, impose a five-day waiting period on all gun sales, prohibit home-based Federal Firearms Licensees from operating within 1.5 miles of any elementary or middle school, and make it easier to file frivolous lawsuits against the firearms industry.

These are just some of the bills that Democrats adopted this year, knowing that Youngkin would veto most or all of them. If they have the opportunity to actually put new gun laws in place, I think these bills will only be the tip of the iceberg. 

Earle-Sears’ silence on Second Amendment issues isn’t the only misstep of her campaign, but I worry that it’s doing major harm, particularly in rural areas of the state. The rural vote is what propelled Youngkin, Earle-Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares to victory in 2021, and while rural voters may be concerned about transgender teens changing clothes in the same locker room with their daughter or grandaughter, I guarantee that they’re at least, if not more, concerned about new restrictions on their right to keep and bear arms. Earle-Sears should be doing everything possible to increase rural turnout compared to 2021, and not talking about Spanberger’s hostility towards the Second Amendment is a huge mistake on the part of the candidate and her campaign. 

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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