Virginia Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has launched a familiar attack against her Democratic gubernatorial rival, Abigail Spanberger, accusing the former Congresswoman of supporting men in women’s sports and allowing transgender girls and women to access female spaces.
“Virginia moms are blasting Abigail Spanberger’s sick and extreme gender politics that put our kids in danger,” Earle-Sears wrote on X.
The 30-second advertisement opens with a mother named “Abbie,” who accuses Spanberger of supporting of transgender girls accessing girls’ school locker rooms, bathrooms, and sports.
“Abigail Spanberger has zero excuse,” Abbie says in the ad. “My son shared urinals with a girl who claimed she’s a boy. My daughter competed against men in track, and the transgender predator who exposed himself in school showers … sick.”
The ad then claims that Spanberger “wrote law to force transgender men into girls’ locker rooms.” It referenced H.R. 5, in the 105th Congress, which spanned 1997-1999, long before Spanberger took office. H.R. 5 that year had nothing to do with transgender issues. It’s more likely the ad is referencing H.R. 5 in 2021, known as the Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination in hiring, firing and other employment practices and in access to public accommodations. Spanberger didn’t write the legislation, but she did support it. She was one of more than 200 co-sponsors. However, the claim that the law would have forced “transgender men into girls’ locker rooms lacks context. While it sought gender-based discrimination in places like bathrooms or locker rooms, the law’s language would have barred transgender individuals from accessing shared facilities.
Nevertheless, Earl-Sears continues to push the transgender issue.
“Miss Spanberger wrote a law to make this stuff legal, that’s not disgusting, it’s disqualifying. I can’t vote for Abigail Spanberger,” Abbie concludes in the ad.
Democrats reintroduced the Equality Act in April 2025, after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order in February banning transgender girls and transgender women from participating in women’s sports, and Spanberger was no longer in Congress. The Department of Justice was directed to make sure government agencies enforce the ban under the administration’s interpretation of Title IX.
During a September interview, Spanberger was asked about her support of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports and using women’s bathrooms.
Sshe said previously, Virginia had a process in place where, on an individual-by-individual basis, schools, parents, principals, and coaches were making decisions based on fairness, competitiveness, and safety. Without specifically singling out transgender students, she added that sometimes a child would be able to play their chosen sport, corresponding with their preferred gender, while others were denied.
Spanberger noted that she thought the process worked, then pivoting to her common critique of Earle-Sears, that she was not addressing real issues that are of concern to Virginia parents.
“Now what you don’t see my opponent talking about, is her plan to actually lower costs, to address the issues that I am hearing about everywhere I go, from families, from parents, how do we ensure that we are lowering costs in health care, housing, and energy,” Spanberger said.
Spanberger also said Earle-Sears has yet to address growing issues in Virginia schools, including fail rates, school infrastructure, recruitment and retention of teachers, and learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Virginia is last in the country for our math recovery from COVID years,” Spanberger said. “We’re last, and 51st after every other state and the District of Columbia, and so, while I recognize all issues are important to all Virginians, I find it questionable that my opponent isn’t talking about the issue that I know is number one that everywhere I go people are talking about.”
The former CIA official was then asked if she would support a bill that allowed transgender school students to compete in sports and use girl’s bathrooms if elected Governor.
“I would support a bill that would put clear provisions in place that provide a lot of local ability for input, based on the age of children, based on the type of sport, based on competitiveness,” Spanberger said, adding that she recognizes the concern as she is the mother of three daughters.
“I think that the process that was in place for ten years, was one that was working, it was one that took individual circumstances and individual communities into account, and I think that is the process that Virginia should continue to utilize.”
