Voting kicks off in Virginia governor’s race — as Trump insurance policies take center-stage

Early in-person voting started Friday in Virginia’s gubernatorial election, marking one of many first main political contests since final yr’s presidential race, and a probable bellwether for President Trump’s insurance policies.

The 2 contenders — Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger — held public appearances Friday to kick off the ultimate phases of their respective campaigns, forward of a Nov. 4 basic election. Spanberger is favored in some current polling.

Spanberger solid her vote Friday morning at a polling station in West Henrico, close to the capital of Richmond. Talking to CBS Information afterwards, the previous congresswoman mentioned her marketing campaign is specializing in the problems impacting the day-to-day lives of Virginians. 

“Whether or not it is since you’re you simply noticed your lease go up, otherwise you assume you may need to purchase your first home, otherwise you’re making an attempt to choose up your prescription on the pharmacy in your child, in your mother and father, for your self, problems with affordability proceed to be high of thoughts for folks throughout Virginia,” Spanberger advised CBS Information. 

In the meantime, Earle-Sears Friday held a get-out-the-vote rally with Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate who’s working for governor of Ohio. She closely cited Youngkin’s financial document, tying herself to the widespread term-limited governor.

“We have got much more work to do. We have got rules that we nonetheless have to do away with,” Earle-Sears mentioned on the rally. “We have got extra jobs that we have to produce.”

DOGE and Trump administration play key position

Nationwide-level points and the Trump administration’s insurance policies have taken center-stage. 

Virginia is one in all two states to carry its gubernatorial election the yr following a presidential cycle, together with New Jersey, so the race is commonly seen as a referendum on the present administration. And traditionally, Virginia has voted for a governor of the other political social gathering from the one which controls the White Home each time a brand new president has been elected since 1977 — a pattern that Earle-Sears hopes to interrupt.

The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce — helmed by the Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE — might play an particularly essential position in Virginia. The state had virtually 150,000 civilian federal staff as of final yr, greater than another state other than California, based on a Congressional Analysis Service report.

Virginia misplaced 7,800 federal jobs within the first half of this yr, and is forecasted to lose 9,300 authorities jobs — federal, state and native — by the tip of 2025, the College of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Middle estimated final month.

Spanberger has positioned herself as a Trump foe, arguing her concentrate on affordability contains pushing again on the “unhealthy coverage” popping out of Washington and presenting plans that purpose to mitigate the monetary affect these insurance policies have on Virginians.

Earle-Sears has spoken favorably about Mr. Trump, although the president has remained noncommittal on whether or not he’ll marketing campaign for the Republican gubernatorial hopeful. Requested about Earle-Sears and downballot Virginia GOP candidates on Friday, Mr. Trump mentioned: “I will have to take a look at a few of them. As you understand, it is type of a semi-local election.”

Spanberger has sought to tie her opponent to Mr. Trump and DOGE. She attacked Earle-Sears for campaigning alongside Ramaswamy, whom she described to CBS Information on Friday as “the architect of the DOGE effort, which has led to hundreds of Virginians shedding their jobs.” After final yr’s election, Mr. Trump named Ramaswamy and Elon Musk co-leaders of DOGE, however Ramaswamy in the end stepped away. Musk has since departed DOGE as nicely, which was adopted by a public falling out with Mr. Trump. 

Requested about that criticism by CBS Information, Earle-Sears referred to as Spanberger a “typical divisive politician” and emphasised her and Youngkin’s job creation document.

“We’re going to guarantee that Virginians are advised if they need a job, we have now a job,” Earle-Sears mentioned. “We’re persevering with to create jobs.”

Earle-Sears, in the meantime, attacked Spanberger throughout Friday’s rally for the Democrat’s positions on immigration, together with her promise to roll again some collaboration between Virginia authorities and federal immigration brokers.

Campaigning within the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination

The gubernatorial marketing campaign is coming into its closing stretch lower than two weeks after the deadly capturing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a university campus debate in Utah, a jarring occasion that has raised new fears in regards to the specter of political violence.

The assassination has additionally sparked worries amongst politicians about their very own safety. A supply near the Earle-Sears marketing campaign advised CBS Information the marketing campaign elevated its safety at Friday’s occasion.

Spanberger advised CBS Information that Kirk’s loss of life was “completely horrifying.”

“The truth that a person engaged in a First Modification debate, whether or not one agrees with him or not, the truth that he was gunned down in broad daylight due to his political activism is an atrocious actuality that everybody ought to denounce,” she mentioned.

Earle-Sears has additionally denounced the assault on Kirk: “Simply because he was utilizing his First Modification rights, he was gunned down,” she mentioned in a video on X.