Free Republic

We are tracking who is casting ballots ahead of Election Day for the mayor’s race in New York City and governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia. Here, we are comparing voters who have cast ballots so far with the makeup of the early and overall electorate in the 2024 presidential election. One of the most closely watched metrics in New York this year is age. Since the city’s mayoral elections are held in off years (without a presidential election on the ballot), the electorate tends to be much smaller. And it skews older than in presidential elections, since older...

She’s so bad, and could very likely be Virginia’s next governor, to the horror of any decent American. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who spent most of this gubernatorial cycle ducking the press for obvious reasons, has a bold new strategy regarding job creation: not working with the president of the United States, because orange man…bad. When PBS NewsHour asked whether a Spanberger administration in Richmond would work with Trump to create job opportunities, the Virginia liberal said no. There’s some word salad, though she was clear that she felt working with the president of the United States to improve the...

Virginia Republicans scored a monumental victory in 2021. After 12 years of sustained statewide losses, the party emerged from the wilderness and swept the three statewide races that year, led by outsider Glenn Youngkin, who became the commonwealth’s first Republican governor since Bob McDonnell left office in 2014.Virginia’s gubernatorial elections are unique in American politics in that no other state makes its governor a lame duck the moment he is sworn in, as term limits prohibit consecutive terms. No Virginia governor has ever run for reelection as an incumbent, although two governors have succeeded in winning nonconsecutive terms.The commonwealth’s proximity...

Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears swiftly condemned those tied to a Young Republicans group chat scandal—and now she's calling on her opponent, Democrat Abigail Spanberger, to do the same with regard to her own running mate, attorney general nominee Jay Jones. In a press release issued Wednesday, the Democratic Party of Virginia said Earle-Sears “must call on participants of a leaked Young Republicans chat that used racist language to step down from their roles joining Virginia Young Republican Thomas Turner”—something the lieutenant governor had no problem doing. “Easy,” she replied, “they absolutely must step down.”Earle-Sears then said it was...

After Virginia’s Republican candidate for governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, left her Democratic opponent, Abigail Spanberger, on the ropes in a debate last week, Sears came out with a devastating ad: A full minute-long clip from the debate of Spanberger staring ahead silently, unwilling to answer the moderator’s question about whether she endorses attorney general candidate Jay Jones despite his homicidal comments against Republicans. “We’re talking about murder … have you nothing to say about that?” Sears prodded. ... So even as Sears rolled out ad after ad that criticized Spanberger by showing her responses when asked about policy positions, the most...

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger’s refusal to affirm life-saving care for babies born alive after failed abortions has drawn sharp condemnation from pro-life advocates, who accuse her of endorsing unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy and undermining parental rights in the process. During Thursday’s debate, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears pressed Spanberger on whether a baby born alive after an abortion should receive appropriate medical treatment. Spanberger remained silent, declining to answer the pointed question. The moment, captured on video, has fueled accusations that Spanberger backs a proposed constitutional amendment in Virginia that would enshrine unlimited abortions up to birth, block future protective...

Former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and current Democrat nominee for State Attorney General (AG) Jay Jones is facing widespread criticism for a 2022 text exchange with Delegate Carrie Coyner (R) in which he wrote "if I had two bullets and faced a choice between shooting then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, Adolf Hitler, or Pol Pot, Gilbert gets two bullets to the head." Coyner called him back to express her dismay at his remarks, but was treated to Jones speculating that "if Gilbert's two little fascists were to die in their mother's arms perhaps that would be more effective....

As the owner of the largest police news outlet in the world - The 1776 Project, which owns Law Enforcement Today, Blue Lives Matter and other platforms... I've seen some royally stupid moves in the last decade. But this one takes the cake. Imagine passing your group off as a police organization... only to sell your soul, piss off your supporters and endorse the very person who hates cops. It's like the people running things woke up with a bad cheap wine hangover and mixed up a cocktail of TDS and liberal tears to try and get through their day....

There’s a reason why Democrats wanted to keep Abigail Spanberger gagged and locked in a basement until the tail end of this election: she’s a total disaster. The Virginia congresswoman, who is running for governor against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has been elite at tossing word salads. Her incoherent mess of an answer about men in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms showcases how liberals are gutless in standing up for what’s sane. It’s almost as if there’s an allergy to joining the popular end of public policy issues that are no longer debated: men shouldn’t be in women’s locker...

Debate moderators repeatedly cut off Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl-Sears' time short and allowed Democrat Spanberger to run over time. "You have 30 seconds" (Winsome Earl-Sears gives answer). 15 seconds pass - bell dings - "Your time is up."

Abigail Spanberger’s campaign for governor of Virginia took a major hit Wednesday night when she refused—repeatedly—to answer a simple question during the Virginia gubernatorial debate: does she still endorse Jay Jones for attorney general after his violent text messages came to light? The exchange, moderated by Deanna Allbrittin of WRIC, was terrible for Spanberger as she twisted herself into rhetorical knots to avoid giving a clear answer. Her opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, wasted no time pointing out what everyone watching could see—Spanberger was dodging. It began when the moderator tried to clarify an earlier non-answer. “Thank you, Ms. Spanberger....

Please excuse this rant.

Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones isn’t the only that could have a rough week. Gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger is having her work history brought into the light, having taught at a Saudi-run school post-9/11. The institution is a terrorist hub, with top Hamas officials sending their children there. The school’s comptroller had ties to Hamas, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that graduates of this school, ISA, were on the radar of federal officials for possibly carrying out attacks against Israel. Spanberger worked at ISA between 2002-2003. Spanberger has not denied working here, even saying she was proud of...

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Virginia worked for a Saudi government-controlled school just after 9/11, at a time when the Islamic academy was already controversial for being controlled by the Saudi royal family and for its extremist textbooks which taught hatred of non-Muslims. Abigail Spanberger, a former Democratic congresswoman from Virginia, is currently the favorite to be the state’s next governor, according to polling averages. When it was revealed during her first congressional run in 2018 that she had worked for the Islamic Saudi Academy in northern Virginia during the 2002-2003 school year, Spanberger said that she was “proud” and...

The REAL Politically Savvy 🇺🇸 @patriot_savvy 🔥 RADICAL Abigail Spanberger 🔥 Calling for her supporters to “LET THE RAGE FUEL YOU” There is a wave of left wing violence hitting the country and the Democrat candidate for Governor is calling for RAGE?! Absolutely disgusting and irresponsible. The Democrats are the party of hate, rage, and violence

Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat running for governor of Virginia this fall, has chosen as her running mate, a state senator named Ghazala Hashmi, a Muslim with a history of bashing Virginia voters as racists. If you live in Virginia, prepare to hear a lot more about race if these two Democrats win. It will seem like old times. It’s also worth noting that Hashmi helped kill legislation that would allow parents to know if their child identified as transgender while at school.

The Virginia Police Benevolent Association, which four years ago supported all Republicans, is backing Abigail Spanberger (D) over Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R). RICHMOND — The Virginia Police Benevolent Association is backing Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor — a switch from four years ago, when the group favored Republicans up and down the statewide ticket. The PBA announced Wednesday that it is splitting its endorsements in statewide races this year, picking the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general, John Reid and Jason S. Miyares. The group praised Spanberger for voting to increase local law enforcement funding...

Virginia man charged in alleged plot to assassinate Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former high school valedictorian in Virginia was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator...

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a Falls Church man and a member of al Qaeda who admitted he was planning to assassinate then-President George W. Bush, was sentenced to life in prison Monday at federal court in Alexandria. Abu Ali was originally sentenced in 2005 to 30 years in prison. U.S. Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the U.S. District Court for eastern Virginia ruled Monday that Abu Ali should spend life in prison partially because he never renounced his al Qaeda ties. After the initial sentencing, both sides filed appeals. Abu Ali completed some of his sentence in solitary confinement at...

(Excerpts, suggest reading entire article) Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is facing off against former Democrat Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s closely watched 2025 gubernatorial race. While Spanberger appears to have the edge in the race so far, recent shocking revelations about the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative – “Russiagate” – could create some uncomfortable questions for Spanberger and perhaps give Sears an opportunity to portray her opponent as a dishonest, untrustworthy career bureaucrat. Before she was elected to Congress in 2018, Spanberger was a CIA operative. She has leaned heavily on that experience in her campaign, repeatedly describing...