Republican gubernatorial candidate claims Democrat ‘will transform’ Virginia in anti-trans political ad

With early voting now underway, the 2025 Virginia governor’s race has entered a volatile new phase. Republican candidate and current lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, launched a campaign ad warning that Democrat candidate Abigail Spanberger "will transform" the state by supporting transgender rights. The attack leans on transphobic culture-war themes Republicans have used nationwide and is filled with disinformation.

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The 30-second spot claims Spanberger “voted to let boys share locker rooms with little girls” and “voted to let children change genders without telling their parents.” To emphasize the charge, the ad repeatedly splices in footage of Spanberger responding, “It really angers me to hear these lies.”

That clip is not a concession but an edit from Spanberger’s own recent ad, in which she told voters, “I’m Abigail Spanberger, mom to three girls in public school. Nothing matters more to me than the safety of all our kids, and as a law enforcement officer, I went after child predators, so it really angers me to hear these lies about who I am.”

Her spot continued, “I believe we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities. As a mom and as your governor, I will be focused on making our schools the best in the nation.”

The Earle-Sears ad concludes, “The truth: Abigail Spanberger will transform Virginia. She’s angry because she’s lying."

The approach of painting the Democrats as colluding to influence conservative children secretly is not new. Current Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is barred from seeking a second term, rode a wave of outrage in 2021 by alleging that “critical race theory” was being secretly taught in Virginia schools. That unsubstantiated claim energized conservatives and helped him capture the governor’s mansion in a state Democrats had recently dominated.

Related: Virginia Republican candidate for governor addresses grads at extremely anti-LGBTQ+ schools

Now, Earle-Sears is betting that using trans people can perform the same function. The tactic echoes President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, which, according to ad tracking analyses, poured tens of millions of dollars into anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ messaging across battleground states.

"Winsome Earle-Sears' campaign has spent tens of thousands of dollars on an ad ripped from the Trump playbook: one intended to stoke fear and division, and erase LGBTQ+ students from Virginia classrooms," Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia Advocates, told The Advocate. "Resorting to this type of fear-mongering and misinformation is nothing new for Earle-Sears. Her record speaks for itself."

Earle-Sears’s history suggests continuity rather than departure. As The Advocate has reported, she once described homosexuality as an “immoral lifestyle choice” in a survey, misgendered Virginia Sen. Danica Roem on the Senate floor, and appeared at Regent University and Atlantic Shores Christian School, institutions with doctrines rejecting LGBTQ+ identities.

Spanberger, who left Congress to run for governor, has supported marriage equality, backed the Equality Act, and described Republican messaging around trans youth as “lies” meant to distract from core policy debates on the economy, reproductive freedom, and school funding.

Virginia remains one of the few Southern states with nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people. Whether voters perceive Earle-Sears’s framing as a protection of parental rights or as a stigmatization of a vulnerable minority may determine the outcome of the race — and, with it, the trajectory of civil rights in the commonwealth.

"Virginia voters are paying attention, and we will work to keep them informed as they head to cast their ballot during one of the most critical elections for LGBTQ+ people in Virginia history," Rahaman said.