One candidate for governor looked north, promising to deal with the challenges she says Virginia faces from Washington. The other looked at what she said she has helped Gov. Glenn Youngkin do.
Speaking separately Tuesday before a conference sponsored by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee, each promised to be strong partners for business.
But they saw Virginia’s challenges in the months ahead coming from two different places.
For Spanberger, that’s President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C.
For Earle-Sears, it’s China and Russia.
“We need a governor who can put Virginia, not a president, not a party, first,” Spanberger said, adding: “If a president’s policies hurt our workforce or our economy, the governor must stand up and push back. That’s not disloyalty. That is doing the job.”
Earle-Sears did not mention the federal workers and contractors who have lost their jobs as the Trump administration begins laying off thousands of civil servants.
“I’m leading parts of an administration that has made strong progress to strengthen the promise of Virginia,” Earle-Sears said. “Together with Governor Glenn Youngkin, we created over 265,000 new jobs … We’ve secured $140 billion in business investments” and made Virginia No. 1 in the nation for workforce training, she said.
The candidates detailed her priorities to boost Virginia’s economy in a speech to a conference sponsored by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and other business groups at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
The conference comes three weeks before the Nov. 4 election.
In her remarks, Spanberger said she would focus on supporting workers who lose their jobs because of Trump’s policies. “I would direct the full power of the office to support displaced Virginians fighting for legal protection,” while focusing state agencies’ efforts on connecting those workers to jobs that reflect their skills, Spanberger said.
“There are real people facing real challenges, and they deserve a governor who will stand up for them and fight for them,” she said.
Education issues
Both candidates said K-12 schools and higher education institutions are key to the state’s future.
Spanberger said she would push to raise public school teachers’ pay to help recruit and retain staff.
“Virginia invests less per student than West Virginia or North Carolina, our neighbors and competitors,” she said, adding that she would increase funding and strengthen programs that support students seeking credentials for jobs in high demand.
A 2023 report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, a state watchdog, found that Virginia school divisions received less K–12 funding per student than the 50-state average, the regional average and three of Virginia’s five bordering states.
Earle-Sears said that over the past three and half years teacher pay has increased 18%.
“We were losing too many teachers, and we wanted them to know we cared about them,” she said.
“We’ve launched lab schools across the commonwealth where we were bridging innovation and experience to help students think critically and create boldly and apply their learning in real-world settings,” she added.
As for colleges, Spanberger said: “We need to make sure that our world-class colleges and universities operate in the best interest of students, parents and communities, free from political interference.”
“Academic freedom is under threat, and Virginia deserves and needs a governor who will stand up for these institutions,” Spanberger said.
Earle-Sears stressed the need to connect what colleges teach with what employers need.
“We need to support higher education partnerships that connect learning to employment and invest in lifelong learning,” Earle-Sears said. “We must make sure that higher education is not just about what students learn but about where that learning leads,” she said.
Right-to-work law
While Spanberger did not mention her opponent, Earle-Sears did once.
“I will always defend Virginia’s right to work,” she said, referring to the eight-decade-old Virginia law that says people can’t be required to join a union as a condition of employment, even if they would benefit from union wages and job protections.
“By contrast, my opponent says one thing, when we know for a fact she not only co-sponsored the legislation to get rid of right to work … she has received more than $1.4 million in contributions from labor unions, which raises serious questions in my mind,” Earle-Sears said.
“I have gotten zero from labor unions.”
Earle-Sears was referring to a failed bill, sponsored by every Democrat in the House of Representatives, which would say employees covered by a union contract should contribute to the cost of negotiating that protection.
Spanberger repeated earlier promises that she would not sign into law any legislation aiming to repeal Virginia’s right-to-work law.
“But let me also say this, I believe that we can do more to support working people,” she said.
She said that includes setting up a statewide paid family medical leave program, increasing the supply of affordable housing, child care and raising the minimum wage.
Virginia’s minimum wage will rise to $12.77 an hour on Jan. 1. Spanberger supports raising Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Earle-Sears says she supports inflation-based adjustments, but opposes “rushing to $15 or higher,” saying it would hurt small businesses and entry-level workers.
“One thing is clear, the role of governor has never been more important,” Spanberger said.
Earle-Sears said: “We are going to keep Virginia working. We are going to keep Virginia building, and we are going to keep Virginia holding together. We will do it.”
https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/10/14/earle-sears-spanberger-share-views-on-business-issues/
