Spanberger, Earle-Sears face off in lone debate of tight Virginia governor race, Election Day Nov 4

The Democratic and Republican nominees for Virginia governor face off Thursday night for their only debate before Election Day next month – in a closely watched race whose outcome is expected to provide insight into the 2026 midterms. 

Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears are vying for the post being left open by GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. First elected in 2021, Youngkin must step down since Virginia’s constitution bars any individual from running for a second consecutive gubernatorial term.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Earle-Sears is now Virginia’s lieutenant governor, a position she’s held since 2022. 

She’s running on the platform of extending Youngkin’s progress in the state’s economic development, and a major supporter of President Trump.

Recently, Earle-Sears has put out a new wave of ads blasting Spanberger for what she argues are her relaxed policies related to transgender students in schools. 

Spanberger, a former House member and CIA case officer, is running as a centrist Democrat, focusing on lowering living costs and ensuring health care access within the state. She served as the representative for Virginia’s 7th Congressional district from 2019-2025. A historically Republican district, Spanberger won an upset election over the GOP-Rep. Dave Brat to first win her seat in 2018.

An election drawing lots of national attention, Virginia is a purple state that could serve as a litmus test ahead of the next major wave of midterms in 2026. The only other state with a gubernatorial election next month is New Jersey, with its outcome also being closely watched. 

Spanberger leads in the most recent polling data. RealClearPolitics' averages give her an 8.6-point edge over Earle-Sears.

But those figures only collected data through Oct. 1, two days before National Review broke the news on Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones sending 2022 text messages where he joked about shooting then-Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert.

Jones apologized for the texts, and Spanberger called the messages inexcusable. But she did not urge Jones to step down from his attorney general race against the incumbent Jason Miyares.

The debate is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Eastern. It can be viewed locally in the ways listed here.