Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger releases first ad, slams 'political nonsense'
The Virginia Democrat running to replace Gov. Glenn Youngkin released her first TV ad Thursday slamming what she described as "political nonsense" in public service.
"Too many politicians talk when they should listen. And divide instead of unite. Enough is enough. I'm Abigail Spanberger. I believe that public service is too important for political nonsense," the former U.S. House representative said.
"When I was in law enforcement and then working counterterrorism at CIA, we didn't do politics. We did our jobs. I broke down some of the divides, stood up to both parties and was named the most bipartisan member of Congress from Virginia," she added. "As governor, I'll work to lower costs, let people keep more of their money and make Virginia schools the best in the nation."
Spanberger is running against Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, in this November's gubernatorial race.
"The dishonesty is astounding. Spanberger spent years in Congress casting votes that made life in America more expensive, more dangerous, and more chaotic. Now she's banking on slick TV ads to rewrite her history, but Virginians aren't buying it – they can spot a Washington fraud when they see one," Peyton Vogel, the press secretary for Earle-Sears, told Fox News Digital.
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A representative for Youngkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Spanberger has faced pushback from both Earle-Sears and the Department of Homeland Security after condemning the "shocking" execution of an ICE raid at a Virginia courthouse in April that netted two criminal illegal immigrants.
"I think what we've seen most shocking, including here in Charlottesville, has been cases where people haven't provided identification and have been in some cases masked and in plain clothes," Spanberger told the Daily Progress earlier this month, after an ICE raid at Albemarle County Courthouse led to the arrest of two illegal immigrants.
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Earle-Sears press secretary Peyton Vogel later told Fox News Digital that "Abigail Spanberger's outrage over criminal illegal immigrants being taken off our streets is everything Virginians need to know about what kind of governor she'd be -- criminals first, victims last."
The Earle-Sears campaign has also accused Spanberger of failing to include her role as a trustee in financial disclosure reports while she was a member of Congress.
The campaign for Earle-Sears called the incomplete disclosures "a calculated lie," not an "accident." But, according to Spanberger's campaign, the only asset contained in the trust is Spanberger's personal residence, which is not required to be disclosed.
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. Original article source: Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger releases first ad, slams 'political nonsense'
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