Free Republic

The recent appearance of gubernatorial candidate Democrat Abigail Spanberger at the Virginia NAACP's annual convention set off a predictable online firestorm. Given that her GOP opponent in the race, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, is a black woman, several right-leaning commentators took time to point out the obvious: The recent appearance of gubernatorial candidate Democrat Abigail Spanberger at the Virginia NAACP's annual convention set off a predictable online firestorm. Given that her GOP opponent in the race, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, is a black woman, several right-leaning commentators took time to point out the obvious: That line stings precisely because it...

Pregnancy help centers (PHCs) in Virginia are facing a serious threat. A proposed constitutional amendment could expand abortion access, remove the limited safeguards for women and girls that currently exist, and endanger the existence of PHCs across the Commonwealth. This fall’s election will determine which delegates will vote on that amendment in January. If you’ve ever supported a PHC with your time, prayers, or donations, we’re asking you now to take one more step: support us with your vote. Vote for a delegate who will protect women, unborn children, and the ministry you’ve built. For the staff of PHCs in...

A 24-year-old Honduran man who was fleeing federal immigration agents in Virginia died on a highway after being struck by a vehicle. The death of Josué Castro Rivera follows recent incidents in which three other immigrants in Chicago and California were killed during immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration’s crackdown. Castro Rivera was headed to a gardening job Thursday when his vehicle was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, brother Henry Castro said. Agents tried to detain Castro Rivera and the three other passengers, and he fled on foot, tried to cross Interstate 264 in Norfolk and...

Republican Winsome Sears, a staunch pro-life advocate, is locked in a tightening race against pro-abortion Rep. Abigail Spanberger for Virginia governor as Election Day on Nov. 5 approaches. Recent polls are showing the contest narrowing amid fierce debates over protecting unborn children from abortion up to birth. Pro-life leaders are rallying behind Sears, warning that a Spanberger victory could enshrine unlimited abortions in the state constitution, devastating thousands of babies and devaluing human life. The race has drawn national attention as Virginia’s off-year election serves as an early barometer for 2026 congressional battles, with Sears positioning herself as a defender...

Facing dismal polling odds two weeks after the publication of his murderous texts from 2022, Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones met with pastors Oct. 22 and touted his self-proclaimed status as a Catholic.“It was an honor to meet with pastors from across Hampton Roads this morning,” Jones posted on X. “As a Catholic, I’ve always drawn strength from faith and community — the same values that guide me in this campaign and in service.”As reported by Newsweek Oct. 21, a Virginia Commonwealth University poll released that day found incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, leading with 45%...

With 10 days to go until the Virginia governor election, polls show a close match between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and her Republican opponent Winsome Earle-Sears, but Spanberger still has the lead. Newsweek's tracker, based on the 10 most recent polls, shows Spanberger with an eight point lead over Earle-Sears, on 51 percent to 43 percent.

Mavis Jones, the wife of Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones (D.), donated to a bail fund that frees murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals from jail, and urged her followers to do the same. "I just donated to the Minnesota freedom fund," Mavis Jones posted to X in May 2020, as Black Lives Matter rioters wreaked havoc in Minneapolis in the days following George Floyd’s death, and just months before marrying Jay Jones. She also linked to the group's donation page before adding, "please consider doing the same or donating to any of the *legitimate* organizations supporting protesters." The...

One of the many problems facing Jay Jones' campaign this month has been a story about reckless driving. Back in 2022 Jones went driving on the I-64 freeway east of Richmond, VA and got pulled over for speeding. The speed limit on this stretch of freeway is 70 mph. Jones was caught driving 116 mph, which works out to 46 mph over the limit. Any speed more than 20 mph over the limit is automatically classified as reckless driving and usually results in more than a fine. But not for Jay Jones. He got a sweetheart deal from the court.If...

"The stakes couldn't be higher," Jay Jones, the Virginia Democrat running for state attorney general, said Monday in an X post. It was an ironic post, coming 10 days after National Review reported numerous violent text messages Jones sent to a colleague in the legislature about a Republican lawmaker. Jones fantasized about urinating on the graves of political opponents as well as shooting then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert with "two bullets to the head." He also texted that he hoped Gilbert's wife, Jennifer, would one day hold one of her children as they died. He followed that post with the...

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears was defiant Monday after her latest brush with racism while she campaigns for governor on the GOP line, after a fan at a James Madison football game yelled at her to "go back" to a Black-majority country she does not hail from. The incident occurred Saturday during JMU’s 63-27 blowout win over Old Dominion in Harrisonburg. It’s the latest episode in which Earle-Sears has been targeted with racist invective; a protester recently confronted her with a sign suggesting she use a segregated water fountain. "I thought Democrats were supposed to love everyone -- and just...

Former President Obama will campaign with Democratic Virginia gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger in Norfolk, Va., on Nov. 1, according to a Tuesday announcement from Spanberger’s campaign.Obama last campaigned in Hampton Roads in 2012. His upcoming campaign stop with Spanberger will mark the first campaign visit of any Democratic president to the area in over 10 years. The announcement comes less than a week after Obama cut two ads urging Virginia voters to back Spanberger in next month’s governor’s race.

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...

Jackie Norris, the chairwoman of the Des Moines Public School Board who once served as chief of staff to Michelle Obama, has pulled out of the race for Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat as recommended by her Republican opponent, Rep. Ashley Hinson. Hinson stressed earlier this month that Norris, a champion of DEI, had "lost all shreds of credibility" over the role she played in the hiring of the Des Moines district's former superintendent, a criminal illegal alien who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sept 26. Ian Andre Roberts, a native of Guyana, has a lengthy...

Campaign ads for Democrats Mikie Sherrill, top, and Abigail Spanberger, link their Republican opponents to President Trump.Credit...From top: Greater Garden State, Spanberger for VA GovernorIn New Jersey, Virginia and beyond, voters have been inundated with ads linking Republican candidates to the president. Some Democratic strategists see a missed opportunity to forge a more positive message.Campaign ads for Democrats Mikie Sherrill, top, and Abigail Spanberger, link their Republican opponents to President Trump.Credit...From top: Greater Garden State, Spanberger for VA GovernorIn New Jersey, the most expensive attack ad in the governor’s race so far this fall accuses the Republican nominee, Jack Ciattarelli,...

Jay Jones gave speech condemning Ralph Northam’s blackface controvery, then campaigned with him. Democratic Virginia attorney general hopeful Jay Jones gave an impassioned speech on race in 2019 which criticized then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam over wearing blackface — and then Jones embraced and campaigned with the disgraced Democratic governor during his unsuccessful bid to be attorney general in 2021 and again during his current bid in 2025.The yearbook photo depicting two people, one dressed up in Ku Klux Klan robes and the other in blackface, appeared on Northam’s 1984 yearbook page at Eastern Virginia Medical School and came to...

… “I don’t have a lot of faith in the Democrats right now,” Alex, a construction worker who traveled to Washington from northern Virginia on Saturday and declined to provide his last name, told NBC News. “They don’t have — they don’t seem to have a lot of spine or a single message. They’re just too disorganized to put up a good fight against this bulls---.” “It pains me to say it, but Trump’s goons are f-----g organized compared to the Dems right now,” he added. Clark Furey, 40, who lives in Washington, called on elected Democrats to “throw some...

From crime and energy to national security, Spanberger was often to the Left of AOC.Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat candidate seeking to be the next governor of Virginia, has pitched herself as a moderate who opposes “extremism” in an attempt to win the purple state. When asked about basic policy positions, she’s dissembled and deflected, refusing to answer or giving what her opponent has called a “word salad.”But actions speak louder than words, and the former congresswoman has plenty of actions on record. How did she actually vote when taking a stance was part of the job? According to a new...

Most Virginians have “accepted the apology” of state attorney general nominee Jay Jones for his disturbing, violent threats about a Republican legislator, a top Democrat is saying. However, recent polling and betting odds cast doubt on that claim. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said in an interview published Friday in Politico that Jones’s violent texts in 2022 about killing Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert were “reckless and unacceptable.” However, he also said that Virginia voters were forgiving. “I believe that most Virginians have accepted that apology and that they’ll elect Jay Jones as the next attorney general,” Martin...

President Trump on Wednesday showed off a model of what may be his next Washington, D.C., development project, an arch that resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and is being referred to informally as the "Arc de Trump." The president showed off a model of the arch at a White House dinner Wednesday night for a group of wealthy donors who are funding his White House ballroom project. Mockups he displayed bore the caption "Independence Arch." "It's going to be really beautiful. I think it's going to be fantastic," Trump said, as he held a model of the arch....

Former President Barack Obama endorsed former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s governor race, releasing a pair of ads attacking Republicans. The contest between Spanberger, a former CIA officer, and current Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is one of only two governor races in the U.S. this November. The contests are viewed as political bellwethers ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. "Virginia's elections are some of the most important in the country this year. We know Republicans will keep attacking abortion rights and the rights of women. That’s why having the right governor matters, and I’m proud to endorse Abigail...