Sears blasts Spanberger for being a ‘socialist’
Winsome Earle Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, accused her opponent, Abigail Spanberger, of being a socialist, saying, “she is radical and she is reckless.”
For Sears, socialism means “government grocery stores and free groceries.”
“After a while, they’re going to run out of money, because it’s our money they’re being free with,” Sears said. If the Democrats win, “They’ll turn us into Maryland; they’ll turn us into New York, they’ll turn us into California.”
Sears, along with Gov. Glenn Youngkin, lieutenant governor candidate John Reid, Attorney General Jason Miyares, who’s running for re-election, and congressional candidate Stewart Whitson spoke at a rally at the Vienna Fire Station on July 1.
Sears blasted mask mandates and closures during the Covid pandemic, warning it could happen again if Spanberger is elected.
When it comes to education, Sears wants to divert federal dollars from public to private schools. “My vision for Virginia is for whatever the parent wants – public, private, parochial, home school, whatever it is, you make the choice,” she said. “We need government to get out of our way.”
Sears made some false claims about Spanberger, saying her opponent won’t put criminals in jail, will raise taxes, and will provide sanctuary to “criminal, illegal immigrants,” including “pedophiles and murderers.”
“She will tell you what kind of car you can drive, and it’s only electric. She will tell you what kind of stove you can have, and it’s only electric,” Sears said.
Sears criticized Spanberger for wanting to raise the minimum wage. As an alternative, Sears called for getting people into careers, like high-paying jobs in cybersecurity or nursing.
Related story: Spanberger vows to stand up for Virginians against the chaos in Washington
In opposing efforts to end Virginia’s status as a right-to-work state, Sears said, “that means if you get a job you’ve got to pay union dues. . . . “I am not anti-union. I am pro-workers.”
Sears spoke about how her father immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica when she was a child to seek better job opportunities. A Marine veteran, Sears represented the Norfolk area in the House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004.
After losing her re-election bid, she owned Shenandoah Appliance Plumbing & Electric in Winchester, which has gotten mostly bad reviews for poor workmanship and customer service. Despite speaking out against government relief programs, her business received over $100,000 in federal aid during the pandemic.
A media event with Democratic leaders on June 30 called out Sears for her extreme views.
“It’s crystal clear that if she makes it to the governor’s mansion, she won’t fight for Virginians; she’ll just push her extreme agenda forward,” said state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim of Fairfax.
“From rolling back reproductive rights and supporting a near total abortion ban to backing Trump’s attacks on Virginia jobs and Medicaid to defunding public education and being ‘morally opposed’ to marriage equality, Winsome Earle Sears is wrong for Virginia,” Salim said.
Sears has defended Trump’s attacks on Virginia’s federal workers and was caught on tape saying, “the media is making it out to be a huge, huge thing… and I don’t understand why.”
The Vienna rally was billed as a unity tour, as it was the first time that Reid appeared with Sears, Youngkin, and Miyares on the campaign trail after months of infighting.
In April, Youngkin asked Reid to drop out of the race after information circulated about photos of nude men posted on a social media account that the governor’s team said was linked to Reid.
Reid said the Tumblr account was not his and claimed he was being smeared for being openly gay. Reid said he was told the attacks would continue unless he withdrew his candidacy. In response, he sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Youngkin team. Since then, the other Republican candidates have not campaigned with him.
The Democratic Party of Virginia highlighted the chaos within the Republican campaign on July 1 with a mobile billboard truck that circulated around the event in Vienna and throughout Northern Virginia.
That’s true – Spanberger is trying to make believe she is not the radical she was causing people to flee Virginia when the Democrats controlled Virginia government. Youngkin reversed that. If Spanberger gets elected the exodus of people fleeing Virginia will begin anew – she has no ideas…just the Democrat love of power and hatred of Trump. Spanberger is the Virginia Democrats version of the NY Mayor candidate Zohran – government control of your life –
People fled from Virginia when democrats were elected? What do you think the reason was ?
Are you not seeing that people are fleeing the area now due to the republicans and how Northern Virginia heavily relies on government and government contractors? I guess it’s still okay even though prices still continue to rise. You can charge even more so your rentals can offset the higher costs of everything you need. Just don’t think about your family, friends, or your friends families because that’s ‘socialist’.
You want to talk government control? I have not once had any governor actively push for things that affect my life negatively until Youngkin. What’s next, a device to report me to the local police when I go over the speed limit? He’s already proposed such a thing. Why?! We want less government, not more unpopular ideas from someone who got voted in for their views on a major issue or two.
You should be required to define a word before you use it. I wish we actually had socialist running for office.
Then they’ll redefine it, like they did with critical race theory. It went from basically a college-level course studing of systemic racial factors and influences in society and history, including its effects in the present -> TEACHING WHITE PPL ARE BAD IN ELEMENTARY
Backing health-care for all is not socialism, it is humanism.
And the money will come from the money tree that grows on the lawn of every DC politician.
Winsome Earle-Sears is MAGA and that means she is trash! Vote blue, Virginia! DO NOT let this horrible woman become our governor.
“Despite speaking out against government relief programs, [Sears’] business received over $100,000 in federal aid during the pandemic.”
Sounds like she’s a socialist to me…. A Republican Socialist is one who takes advantage of government programs but doesn’t want anyone else to.
The government forced us to close down our businesses- she likely used the money to pay her employees….but you don’t understand that because you don’t own and operate a business.
OK, but her hypocrisy still stands. Decry the government but take the handout. And you don’t know what I own and operate, now do you?
Dear Democrats – Men can’t have babies!- Deal with it!
Immigrants! Trans people! Socialists! Always trotting out the same tired boogeymen to try to scare people into voting away their rights…
Literally, and the sad part is. Most people havent even met or had a conversation with a immigrant or trans person but hate them so much
If Sears was a democrat, you would have used identity politics. Since she’s on the opposing party you bring up how she’s a terrible business owner. Youngkin has been pretty decent as governor. You should talk about how a Democratic dominated board of supervisors is destroying Fairfax County at every chance they get.
Destroying! Such an overly used word with no context given (shocker!).
So, despite Youngkin sitting on his hands when his constituents were being decimated by DOGE, despite his vetoes of bipartisan legislation for no reason other than spite, despite his utter failure in luring DC sports franchises to NoVA, and despite his galavanting around the US campaigning for rightwing candidates, he still gets your “pretty decent as governor” rating. But the Democratic-led BoS gets a “destroying Fairfax County” classification even though they are far more effective at governing than Youngkin?
Is MAGA your first cult?
Fed law enforcement are cowardly stormtroopers. They are paraprofessionals at best. Enjoy my tax money that enables you to live amongst real professionals in this neighborhood. You don’t belong.
A governor that sets up a hotline to report teachers sounds pretty despicable to me.
Good riddance.
Neither side has a monopoly on bad ideas. It’s just easier to read between the lines when it’s such an obvious sell-out spouting the nonsense – heaven help us all.