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Earle-Sears comes out swinging in heated debate as Spanberger dodges Jay Jones questions

Earle-Sears comes out swinging in heated debate as Spanberger dodges Jay Jones questions

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears came out swinging against what she called former Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s dodges on calls for fellow Democrat Jay Jones to drop out of the attorney general contest after texts envisioning the murder of a Republican leader came to light. Throughout the debate, Spanberger mostly declined to make eye contact with Earle-Sears and ignored her when she was interrupted. Earle-Sears repeatedly addressed Spanberger directly during both women’s answers but did not receive any direct responses in return. SPANBERGER DEFENDS ABORTION AD CRITICIZING SEARS AFTER BERNIE WARNS AGAINST HIGHLIGHTING ISSUE Early on, Earle-Sears interrupted Spanberger, asking her to give a direct answer. The Democrat told the moderators she was “aware of these messages” and that they were “absolutely abhorrent.” “I denounced them when I learned of them and I will denounce them every chance I get,” Spanberger said, as Earle-Sears interjected once more to attempt to press for a straight answer. “I didn’t hear an answer on [the Jones] question,” co-moderator Deanna Albrittin told Spanberger. Since Earle-Sears had already called for Jones to drop out, the moderators asked her instead about President Donald Trump’s stated “hate” for political opponents after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Earle-Sears later turned to Spanberger and admonished her for refusing to give a yes-or-no answer on Jones, asking whether it would take Jones “pulling the trigger” to actually condemn what he had said about then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. WINSOME EARLE-SEARS RELEASES ‘TWO BULLETS’ AD SCATHING OPPONENT FOR FAILING TO DEMAND JAY JONES’ OUSTER The Republican was later asked whether she needs Trump’s endorsement, as he has explicitly endorsed lieutenant governor candidate John Reid but offered more muted comments for Earle-Sears during the span of the race. Earle-Sears also criticized Spanberger for purportedly waiting several days before condemning a left-wing protester’s racist sign at an Arlington anti-transgender-sports demonstration headlined by the Republican candidate. The sign said that Earle-Sears should not be able to share water fountains (as a Black woman) if transgender students cannot share bathrooms. In the latter regard, moderator Tom Schaad asked Spanberger whether transgender girls born male should be able to use female bathrooms and be on co-ed sports teams. “Nothing is more important to me than their safety and their experience in schools,” Spanberger said, before offering a lengthier answer that also cited her experience as a former federal agent investigating crimes against children. TOP GOP GROUP DROPS BIG MONEY INTO VIRGINIA SHOWDOWN AFTER DEM AG NOMINEE’S VIOLENT TEXTS GO VIRAL “That work, in part, has earned me the endorsement of the Police Benevolent Association,” she said. Schaad reiterated the question, saying there had been no direct answer, and later attempted to ask whether Spanberger would rescind an executive order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin laying out a bathroom policy along biological lines. “My opponent will not answer the question because she voted for men nude in girls’ locker rooms,” Earle-Sears later said. Later, both candidates were asked whether they would continue or undo any specific policies from Youngkin – whom the moderators reported enjoys high approval ratings as he closes out his last three months of his term. Earle-Sears said she would not disclose private conversations with Youngkin but that she would not undo their progress. ‘CONSUMED WITH HATE’: WINSOME SEARS, JASON MIYARES UNLOAD ON DEMOCRAT JAY JONES OVER VIOLENT TEXTS Spanberger said she would continue Youngkin’s efforts to grow advanced nuclear power in the commonwealth. After the event, Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, Jr., D-Portsmouth, spoke to reporters as a surrogate for Spanberger. Scott said there is a “double standard” in pressuring Spanberger to call for Jones to drop out, claiming Earle-Sears has not denounced violent rhetoric from Trump. The speaker, who represents the area just south of the debate site, claimed Earle-Sears did not as vociferously condemn Trump for a remark he made in 2024 when discussing neoconservatism, and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s aisle-crossing endorsement of Kamala Harris. “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face,” Trump said as a rebuttal to people in the political establishment who are war “hawks” or support proverbial forever-wars. WINSOME EARLE-SEARS RELEASES AD LINKING ABIGAIL SPANBERGER TO JAY JONES AFTER VIOLENT TEXTS RESURFACE The Trump campaign noted at the time that the president did not call for Cheney to be executed and that the press covered the remark “disgracefully,” while fact-checker PolitiFact deemed the comment illustrative of a “combat zone” situation rather than a call for murder. Fox News Digital reached out to the Earle-Sears campaign for comment on the debate, including the way the candidates comported themselves on stage. “If you’re wondering who’s capable of leading Virginia, this was the debate to watch,” Earle-Sears spokesperson Peyton Vogel told Fox News Digital. “Abigail Spanberger couldn’t even look Lt. Gov. Earle-Sears in the eye and confirmed she will not stand up to Jay Jones’ threat-laced, murderous rhetoric.” “If she can’t lead her own ticket, she can’t lead the Commonwealth,” Vogel said.

Senate advances 2026 defense bill after weeks of delay as shutdown drags on

Senate advances 2026 defense bill after weeks of delay as shutdown drags on

The Senate advanced its version of a colossal package to authorize funding for the Pentagon on Thursday in the midst of the ongoing government shutdown. The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which had been gathering dust as lawmakers worked to break through holds on the bill for over a month, advanced in the upper chamber on a bipartisan vote. The legislation would authorize roughly $925 billion in defense spending. However, successful advancement of the bill after a marathon Senate vote on amendments came as the government entered Day 9 of the government shutdown with no clear end in sight. Lawmakers in the upper chamber aren’t expected to return until Tuesday, all but guaranteeing that military service members won’t get their paychecks next week.  SENATE DEMOCRATS BLOCK GOP PLAN AGAIN TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS MILITARY PAY DEADLINE LOOMS Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., formally announced the breakthrough on the Senate floor after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teased a possible vote Thursday morning. Wicker noted that in a particularly partisan moment in the upper chamber, the NDAA was able to sail through committee earlier this year on a near unanimous vote. “In this time, when we can’t seem to muster up a 60-vote majority to keep us in business as a federal government, we were able to pass the National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 26-to-1,” Wicker said. Lawmakers were finally able to move on the legislative package after Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., dropped his hold on the measure. Gallego had called for a vote on his amendment that would have prevented Ashli Babbitt, who was killed during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, from receiving military funeral honors. The Air Force extended an offer for military funeral honors for Babbitt in August. SENATE REPUBLICANS CONFIRM MORE THAN 100 TRUMP NOMINEES AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CONTINUES Senators charged through over a dozen partisan amendments and a massive batch of roughly 50 add-ons to the legislative package before moving the bill. The House passed its own version last month. Among the failed amendments was one from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., which would have blocked money to retrofit a Boeing 747 that President Donald Trump accepted from the Qatari government earlier this year.   Another, from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., would have prevented Trump and governors around the country from signing off on sending the National Guard from one state to another if a governor or mayor rejected the move.  One successful amendment, from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., would repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force for Iraq, which, at the time, authorized President George W. Bush to use the U.S. military as he deemed “to be necessary and appropriate” in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. It would also repeal a similar resolution passed in 1991 during the Gulf War. The House’s version of the bill included repeals of both authorizations, too.  DOZENS OF DEMOCRATS MUTINY MUST-PASS DEFENSE BILL OVER GOP PRIORITIES However, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., had vowed to block the package Thursday afternoon in an effort to “secure a hearing to investigate this gross abuse of our military” in response to Trump sending the National Guard to Chicago and other cities across the country. But she backed off her threat after Wicker promised a hearing on the matter “in the coming weeks.” “I look forward to asking tough questions of the Trump administration about their unconstitutional National Guard deployments to American cities against state and local officials’ objections,” she said in a statement.