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During a particularly heated exchange during Thursday night’s Virginia gubernatorial debate, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears challenged her opponent to deliver a pointed message to the state’s two Democratic senators — “Do your job” — and vote to end the government shutdown.
Earle-Sears knocked her opponent, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, for not doing more to urge the state’s two Democratic senators, Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, to end the shutdown, which has impacted hundreds of thousands of federal workers and military service members living in Virginia.
“My opponent all summer long has been playing political football with federal workers by trying to say that she loves them more than anyone else. Well, let me tell you what love looks like. It looks like Abigail calling Senators Kaine and Warner and telling them, ‘Go back, do your job, and vote against a government shutdown,’” said Earle-Sears.
“We only need eight Democratic senators, that’s all we need, and we cannot find eight. And yet we can find two in Virginia. When are you going to publicly say to Senators Kaine and Warner, ‘Go and do your job and keep federal workers working?” Earle-Sears went on.
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Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Rep. Abigail Spanberger faced off in a gubernatorial debate on Thursday night. (Pool / Getty Images)
“That’s the way you stop the shutdown, because right now they’re having to work, and especially our military, without any pay,” she said. “I’m a United States Marine veteran, and it is definitely hard, especially in the enlisted ranks, to work without pay.”
She added, “You can do something about that. You’re the one who’s been talking about all that love. Well, show love, keep them in their jobs.”
Spanberger, meanwhile, said, “Everyone from Virginia, the most impacted state in a time of shutdown as our communities are suffering after months of DOGE attacks on our federal workforce, everyone in Virginia should be coming together and urging the president to re-enter negotiations.”
She accused Earle-Sears of having “not stood up for Virginia workers” as lieutenant governor, especially during the Trump administration’s DOGE cuts.
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Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks to the crowd during a rally held to announce she will seek her party’s nomination for Virginia governor in 2025 at Chick’s Oyster Bar in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Sept. 5, 2024. (Kristen Zeis/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“At this moment, when Virginia’s federal workforce and contract workers and communities across the Commonwealth are suffering because of this government shutdown, it is only increasing the challenge that they are facing after months and months of the attacks from this White House under DOGE,” said Spanberger.
“The entirety of that time,” she went on, “my opponent has made light of federal workers losing their jobs, saying it’s not a big deal and that everyone loses their jobs.”
Pressed on whether she would urge Kaine and Warner to vote to end the shutdown, Spanberger said, “I would encourage everyone, our Democratic senators, our Democratic House members, our Republican House members to work together and drive an effort to come back to the table.”
In response to whether she would ask President Donald Trump to work on a compromise to end the shutdown, Earle-Sears answered, “The president has already said that he would do that.”
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Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Democratic Party nominee for governor, addresses the crowd during an event in support of her run for office at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center in Richmond, Virginia, on April 8, 2025. (Max Posner/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
“But you know, before anything gets to the president, it’s in the Senate right now. The House Republicans have voted, and it’s in the Senate. And all we need for it to get to the president so the shutdown stops is eight Senate Democrats. That’s just it, eight Senate Democrats. And we cannot find any because they’re playing political football, as you have been, Abigail, all this time,” she said.
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“Love is a verb. It’s a show me. It’s a doing. Love is not a shutdown,” she went on. “When are you going to ask Senator Kaine and Warner to please keep federal workers working?”
