Earle-Sears, Spanberger talk biz credentials in Va. Chamber forum appearances

They didn’t meet face-to-face, but the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees for Virginia’s 2025 governor race addressed the same audience Friday at the 2024 Virginia Economic Summit and Forum on International Trade in Richmond.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, spoke just after 9 a.m. at the event co-sponsored by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, while U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for governor, addressed the audience in the afternoon.

Earle-Sears focused her remarks on Virginia’s right-to-work status, which prohibits employers from requiring employees to belong to a union, saying that repealing the state’s law “will cost us billions in capital investments and tens of thousands of jobs,” and arguing that Spanberger has not answered questions about her views on the state’s right-to-work policy and could repeal the law as governor.

“We Virginians deserve a straight answer from Congresswoman Spanberger,” the lieutenant governor said. “Does she support our right-to-work law? I don’t have to tell you that if the effort to repeal right to work is ever successful, it will destroy Virginia’s economy and our workforce in several ways. No more new businesses will be moving to Virginia.”

Spanberger, who completes her third term in Congress at the end of the year, did not address Virginia’s right-to-work legislation or mention Earle-Sears by name in her speech Friday.

According to an October story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Spanberger, through her spokeswoman, declined to say whether she supported or opposed the state’s right-to-work law. In Congress, she joined more than 200 House Democrats in supporting legislation from U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott protecting workers’ right to unionize. Spanberger’s congressional office directed a request for comment to her campaign, which did not immediately respond to an email Friday morning.

Instead, she laid out a list of priorities if elected governor, including investing more money in Virginia’s K-12 schools, its universities and community colleges, site development, and marketing the state’s economic development opportunities. She added that recruiting and retaining more teachers, easing the cost of child care and boosting workforce training efforts were also key priorities for her.

“I consistently hear over and over and over again the issue of … developing and building a skilled workforce,” Spanberger said. “Investing in our workforce shouldn’t start when someone turns 18, and I know this organization understands that.” Although as governor she couldn’t prevent President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs in his second term, Spanberger vowed, “I will work to maintain a stable, predictable business climate for Virginia. As governor, I will work to mitigate as much uncertainty as I can through transparency, collaboration and by working directly with Virginians.”

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine made a surprise appearance at the forum and said that he has spoken with Trump’s transition staffers about Trump’s proposed tariffs, particularly the 25% levees against Canada and Mexico, which he said would be “very, very painful.” Kaine added that tariffs imposed by Trump in his first term impacted agriculture workers in Virginia particularly harshly, and farmers are currently dealing with “low commodity prices. You impose retaliatory tariffs on their products, making it harder to ship them elsewhere.”

Kaine said he would let Spanberger’s campaign respond to Earle-Sears’ comments on right-to-work laws, but added that his fellow Democrat has “been an amazing champion for infrastructure development, for manufacturing and for rural broadband, and those are really powering an awful lot of job announcements in Virginia.”

Earle-Sears declared her candidacy for governor in September, and in November, Virginia Attorney Gen. Jason Miyares, who was rumored to have been considering a run for the GOP nomination for governor, declared he would instead run for a second term as AG, leaving the path clear for Earle-Sears, who has received Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s endorsement. Youngkin is not permitted to seek a second, consecutive term as governor under state law.

In her speech Friday, Earle-Sears claimed credit as part of the Youngkin administration’s economic development wins since 2022, including Lego Group’s $1 billion project in Chesterfield County, and the launch of more than 10,000 “high-growth, high-wage startups in Virginia.” She also praised the current administration’s streamlining of business regulations and removal of red tape.

On a personal note, Earle-Sears said her entrepreneurial background and her father’s hard work as a Jamaican immigrant to the United States means the right-to-work law in Virginia “is more than a policy for me. When I was an employee, I valued the freedom to decide how to spend my wages that I worked hard for, and as a business owner, I respected that a good worker deserves this same freedom.”

In her speech, Spanberger said that she attended business school in Germany following her graduation from the University of Virginia and fully intended to enter the private sector, but she felt the calling to enter public service following the 9/11 attacks. In the early 2000s, she became a postal inspector and worked on narcotics and money laundering cases, before becoming an operations officer at the CIA. She noted that her experience in Congress has allowed her to hear from many business people and other stakeholders in Virginia.

“Whether you’re a business looking to grow or a locality trying to bring in investment, or a massive employer recruiting and retaining the workforce, you know that your challenges are complex in nature,” Spanberger said. “When I meet with Virginia business leaders and the local chambers, I always ask questions. I hear their concerns, and I take their criticism about how things can or should be improved.”

Spanberger announced her gubernatorial run in 2023 and did not seek re-election to her seat in Congress this year; Democrat Eugene Vindman will succeed her as U.S. representative in the state’s 7th congressional district in January 2025. In April, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced he would drop his bid for governor and instead run for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, sparing the party a primary battle.

Although others could decide to enter the race before next spring’s primaries, as the race appears now, Virginia is poised to elect its first female governor next year.

Previously, the only other woman in Virginia’s history to receive a major party’s gubernatorial nomination was Mary Sue Terry, a Democrat from Martinsville who served two terms as the state’s attorney general. She ran for governor in 1993 but lost that race to Republican George Allen, who later also served as a U.S. senator.

Earle-Sears is also a history maker, as the first woman to serve as Virginia’s lieutenant governor and the first Black woman and immigrant to hold statewide office. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former state delegate, the Jamaican-born Earle-Sears took an unusual path to the Virginia State Capitol in a career that has included owning an appliance, plumbing and electrical company and managing a homeless shelter.

Spanberger has served three terms in Congress, first beating Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Brat in 2018 in a traditionally GOP-leaning district, and maintaining her seat in 2022 after congressional redistricting. She currently represents Fredericksburg, Caroline County and part of Prince William County, and is viewed as a moderate Democrat.