VoteVets, a liberal group that helps veterans who run for workplace, is launching a half-million-dollar ad campaign to boost the Democratic nominee in the race for Virginia governor by attacking her GOP opponent on cost-of-living issues, a major funding forward of the important thing off-year election this November.
The race between former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, shall be intently watched as a measure of political sentiment 10 months into President Donald Trump’s second time period.
VoteVets is hoping that candidates like Spanberger, a former CIA officer, New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill – a former Navy helicopter pilot and Democratic nominee for governor this 12 months in New Jersey – and a bunch of different Democrats with nationwide safety and navy service data operating in 2026 will assist the social gathering win contests up and down the poll.
“These candidates stand as models for a Democratic Party seeking a new MO: leaders with an avowed commitment to the individuals they serve and whose military service and national security experience offer the reassurance of expertise and integrity,” in accordance to a VoteVets memo detailing the group’s efforts in the second quarter of the 12 months obtained by NCS.
The new ad campaign unveiled Tuesday targets Earle-Sears for supporting GOP insurance policies on taxes and tariffs that Democrats argue have pushed up the price of residing – reflecting a possible problem for Republicans in blue-leaning states like Virginia amid turbulent policymaking in Washington.
The first spot options an Air Force veteran and Virginia resident named Ken, who shares his issues about affordability. “The cost of living is out of control. And Winsome Earle-Sears would make it worse. A sales tax on groceries? She voted to keep it. New tariffs that’ll drive prices even higher?”
The group says it plans to spend $500,000 on promoting in Virginia by November, concentrating on voters on broadcast, streaming and on Spotify beginning in the Richmond and Norfolk media markets.
“From now through Election Day, VoteVets will be keeping the GOP campaign on defense and aggressively working to reach voters that others in the Democratic ecosystem can’t,” stated Matt Corridoni with VoteVets.
With the important thing off-year race approaching its ultimate dash, each side are escalating their assaults, together with the brand new VoteVets effort. Earlier this month, Spanberger’s campaign launched its first adverse ad, criticizing Earle-Sears’ feedback in a NCS interview about Department of Government Efficiency cuts to the federal workforce.
“Thousands of Virginians are losing their jobs,” the ad says, that includes a clip of Earle-Sears saying “I want to talk about real issues” when requested in regards to the DOGE cuts. “It’s a real issue that Sears supports Trump, not Virginians.”
Earle-Sears, in the meantime, launched a new ad final week branding Spanberger a “Washington insider who voted with Pelosi and Biden every single time.” And Earle-Sears and her allies have been regularly targeting Spanberger with assaults targeted on transgender insurance policies, echoing the Trump campaign’s technique in the closing stretch of the 2024 election.
Spanberger has been a VoteVets-endorsed candidate since she first ran for Congress in 2018 as a part of a group of Democratic candidates that helped the social gathering win management of the US House, gaining greater than 40 seats that cycle. But the group’s new ad campaign can be notable as a result of it targets Earle-Sears, who’s herself a Marine Corps veteran, part of her background featured in her campaign.
“She’s not a politician. She’s a Marine. Winsome Earle-Sears has a record of service and results,” says an ad for her campaign, that includes a photograph of Sears in uniform. Earle-Sears served three years in the Marines, working as an electrician at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, and leaving energetic obligation in 1986.
VoteVets new half-million-dollar ad campaign brings their whole dedication to the race to $1 million, after the group had beforehand contributed $500,000 immediately to Spanberger’s campaign in February.
Democrats, in the meantime, are feeling assured about their possibilities in Virginia this 12 months. The social gathering has received there constantly on the presidential degree since Barack Obama’s first run in 2008, however there have been current indicators of competitiveness, together with outgoing GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s slim victory in 2021 and Trump’s 4-point enchancment in his margin of defeat between 2020 and final November.
Spanberger has dominated Earle-Sears in fundraising all through the competition; in accordance to their most up-to-date monetary studies, Spanberger had thrice as a lot money readily available as Earle-Sears, $15.2 million to $4.6 million, as of the top of June.
And even earlier than the brand new funding from VoteVets, Democrats already had an promoting benefit. According to information from the ad monitoring agency AdImpact, Spanberger has outspent Earle-Sears by about $5.6 million to $3.2 million by mid-August. For now, no main Republican teams have booked ad time in Virginia in the autumn.