The FFRF Action Fund is pleased to endorse Abigail Spanberger in her bid for Virginia governor.
Spanberger is running to replace Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, as Virginia prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms. A former member of Congress and an ex-CIA employee, her Republican opponent is current Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
Earle-Sears, the first woman and first Black woman to be elected to a statewide office in Virginia, is well-known for her extreme anti-abortion beliefs. She has indicated that she wants to make abortion illegal in almost all cases, unless the woman’s life is at risk, and believes that consenting to sex is consenting to pregnancy. In 2021, Earle-Sears told a reporter that she considered abortion to be “genocide.” Her campaign website previously included an anti-abortion page that referred to “late-term abortion” as murder, which has since been scrubbed.
Virginia is the only southern state in the United States without a strict abortion ban, and abortion is currently legal through the end of the second trimester. Gov. Youngkin failed to build momentum behind a 15-week abortion ban in the state, which Earle-Sears endorsed. Earle-Sears also said on Newsmax in 2021 that she would support a six-week abortion ban, before most women realize they’re pregnant. It’s essential that Virginia remains a safe haven for residents in Southern states grappling with strict and total abortion bans.
Earle-Sears has also been outspoken against LGBTQ+ rights. In 2024, she wrote as lieutenant governor on a marriage equality bill that she was “morally opposed” to same-sex marriage. In 2004, she expressed strong opposition to LGBTQ+ rights in a candidate questionnaire while running for Congress. Earle-Sears indicated that she would vote to block same-sex parents from adopting children and would oppose workplace protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. She also indicated that she believed homosexuality is an “immoral lifestyle choice.” The questionnaire was for a conservative nonprofit that has advocated against same-sex marriage, opposed abortion and supported “faith-based initiatives.”
FFRF sent a complaint letter to Earle-Sears in 2022 after in a speech to the NRA Women’s Leadership Forum she blamed school shootings on a general breakdown of society that has come about “because we took prayer out of schools.” Earle-Sears is loudly outspoken in her Christian faith. She has delivered a speech at Liberty University, known for its conservative, evangelical views, and has described her previous campaign for lieutenant governor as obeying God’s direction.
Comparatively, Spanberger has pledged to defend abortion rights and access to contraception and IVF as governor. In Congress, Spanberger voted to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and to protect the rights of Americans to travel across state lines to receive abortion care. She will protect the advancement of a two-year constitutional amendment process to codify reproductive rights in Virginia’s Constitution. Spanberger has also voted in Congress to enshrine into federal statute legal protections for LGBTQ+ and interracial couples. She has indicated that she will support efforts to remove the ban on marriage equality from Virginia’s Constitution and will protect the LGBTQ+ community from governmental and workplace discrimination.
Spanberger is the clear state-church candidate for Virginia’s governor. She will defend reproductive rights in a key state for abortion access in the South and will stand against attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. Spanberger has also indicated her support for medical aid in dying.
Please learn more about Spanberger by visiting her campaign website here.