The Opportunity-for-All Candidate
by James A. Bacon
Pundits and politicians are enamored with the idea that Virginia will “make history” in its gubernatorial elections this fall. No matter who wins the election — Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears or Democrat Abigail Spanberger — she will be the first woman to serve as Governor.
The making-history observation applies to Earle-Sears in triplicate. She’d be the first woman, the first immigrant, and the second African-American to become governor — an undisputed winner of identity-politics sweepstakes. But it’s not a distinction she’s looking for.
“I acknowledge that [the election] is historical, but I don’t stand on that,” Earle-Sears told an audience of roughly 200 at the University of Virginia yesterday in an event sponsored by The Jefferson Council and Center for Politics. The luster of being a historical first wears off quickly, she said. People quickly adopt the attitude, “Now what? What have you done for us?”
Earle-Sears did not delve into detailed policy proposals. Rather, she sounded broad themes. She believes in equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. The keys to achieving equal opportunity in Virginia are freedom of choice in education, an all-of-the-above energy policy, safe communities and a robust economy.
She spent a considerable portion of her speech introducing herself to the audience: as a Jamaican-born immigrant whose father arrived in 1963 with $1.75 in his pocket, as a U.S. Marine, as a mother, as leader of a men’s prison ministry, and as lieutenant governor, whose job is presiding over the legislature.
She sprinkled her speech with references to slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement. But she didn’t cite the struggles of African-Americans for equality as a reason to condemn the United States. Rather, she praised the country for how far it has come. She quoted Martin Luther King, but she also cited Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Opportunity abounds in America, Earle-Sears said, and expanding opportunity for all is the spirit that guides her politics.
Her father raised her to succeed, she said. “Don’t be a victim…. Is this thing before you a hurdle or an obstacle?”
While the polls show Earle-Sears running behind Spanberger by anywhere from five to 15 points, she doesn’t think they capture the realities on the ground. Blacks comprise a core of the Democratic Party coalition in Virginia, and the pollsters think Spanberger will win 85% of their vote, she told Bacon’s Rebellion before her speech. But Blacks are not a political monolith. If she can capture 40%, she can render Spanberger unelectable. As a former Marine, she can appeal to Virginia’s large military population, and as an immigrant, she thinks she can make inroads in immigrant communities.
She was vague, however, on what her campaign was doing to reach out to those communities. Her campaign has not raised as much money as Spanberger’s, and she’s conserving cash for media buys.
Speaking in the Rotunda, a building designed by Jefferson, Earle-Sears touched on broad themes relating to higher education, but she did not directly address current controversies consuming the University over the abolition of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion under the threat of funding cut-offs by the Trump administration.
Notably, although two Board of Visitors members attended Earle-Sears’ speech, President Jim Ryan did not, nor did a single senior official in his administration — an unusual slight for a gubernatorial candidate. Rather, Ryan signed yesterday an American Council of Colleges and Universities statement decrying the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” He was the only current president of a public Virginia university to do so, although UVA Provost Ian Baucom, bound for Middlebury College, did so as well.
While Earle-Sears views colleges and universities as a crucial steppingstone for upward mobility, she acknowledged higher-ed’s problems. She emphasized the need to foster intellectual diversity, and said she was “grateful” for the service provided by Bert Ellis, whom Governor Glenn Youngkin recently fired from the Board of Visitors for his blunt and confrontational style regarding DEI, antisemitism and administrative bloat. “He is a fighter,” she said, “and we are appreciative of his work.”
Referring to the wave of anti-Zionist demonstrations across the country that are often indistinguishable from antisemitism, including at UVA, she said, “The rise of antisemitism cannot continue.” At the same time, she acknowledged that “hate speech” had to be tolerated unless someone was calling for violence. “We cannot suppress free speech.”
She also touched upon the debate over UVA founder Thomas Jefferson, whom some have characterized as a slave-holding rapist unworthy of recognition or honor. She spoke of an encounter with a Jefferson reenactor in Colonial Williamsburg, who spoke of the founder’s authorship of the Declaration of Independence. “Will it be said of you that the world is better off for you having lived?”
The implication, as I understood her, is that, yes, we are better off for Jefferson having lived.
Despite the vital importance of higher-ed, Earle-Sears questioned the value it delivers these days. “Are the kids learning?” she asked. “What are we paying for?”
Earle-Sears praised the economic record of the Youngkin administration. The administration has gotten rid of 50,000 “job-killing” regulations, saving businesses $1.2 billion in the process. It has funneled unprecedented sums into education, returned $7 billion to $8 billion to citizens through tax refunds, and built up the commonwealth’s rainy-day and reserve funds to their statutory limits. Virginia’s economy has responded by generating 15,000 start-ups. There are 250,000 job openings.
It’s a record of accomplishment, she said, but this is no time to get complacent. “There is always more to be done.”
James A. Bacon is contributing editor of the Jefferson Council.
