Democrat holds a healthy lead for Virginia governor, but one scandal could throw downballot races



Early data indicates Democrats are currently enjoying a lead in Virginia's gubernatorial race, but one notorious scandal might cost them the attorney general race.

Polling has consistently shown Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger with a comfortable advantage over her Republican challenger, Winsome Earle-Sears, who has served as Virginia's lieutenant governor since 2022. Spanberger is averaging 7.4 points ahead of Earle-Sears, according to RealClearPolling, with some polls even putting the Democrat at a double-digit lead.

'Do you really want to elect that person as a law enforcement officer in your state?'

However, this advantage has not translated to the Virginia attorney general race, where Democratic candidate Jay Jones has fallen behind Republican candidate Jason Miyares.

Miyares' newfound momentum came at the beginning of October after Jones' leaked texts revealed he was privately fantasizing about putting "two bullets" in the head of a political opponent and about the man's kids dying in the arms of their mother.

RELATED: Exclusive: Steve Scalise was shot by a radical leftist — now he reacts to Jay Jones' murderous fantasies

Photo by Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who himself survived a politically motivated shooting, warned that Jones' rhetoric revealed skewed judgment.

"Do you really want to elect that person as a law enforcement officer in your state?" Scalise asked in response to the texts. "Should other elected officials be accepting and condoning and endorsing that, or should they denounce it, which I did? Everybody should denounce it, and yet some won't for political reasons."

"I think it's a gut check for people's integrity," Scalise told Blaze News. "If you're willing to accept a call to violence because you're more worried about a political party advancing than you are worried about civility in this country, that's a real big concern for alarm."

RELATED: Earle-Sears' campaign bus bursts into flames days before election for Virginia governor

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

It's clear that extreme rhetoric is unpopular with Virginians. In the lieutenant governor's race, Republican candidate John Reid has hammered Democratic candidate Ghazala Hashmi's radical track record, including the time she boasted about teaching children books that were banned for containing explicit material.

"One of my concerns is violence. We seem to focus on sexually explicit material," Hashmi said in a video obtained by Blaze News. "I don't really care about that."

"We teach the books that other people try to ban," Hashmi said.

Even still, polling puts Reid and Hashmi within striking distance of each other. The latest polling shows Hashmi at a two-point advantage over Reid, although notably 7% of surveyed voters remain undecided.

"Ghazala Hashmi's words speak for themselves," Reid told Blaze News. "Any public official who says they 'don't really care' if children are exposed to sexually explicit material in schools is completely out of touch with Virginia parents."

"Parents deserve to know what's in their kids' classrooms — and when I'm lieutenant governor, they'll have a voice and a seat at the table."

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Exclusive: Steve Scalise was shot by a radical leftist — now he reacts to Jay Jones' murderous fantasies



House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who survived a politically motivated assassination attempt, reacted to the murderous fantasies of a high-profile Democrat in an exclusive sit-down interview with Blaze News.

Scalise recounted his brush with death in 2017 when a leftist shooter opened fire during a Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game in Virginia. Scalise and three others were wounded in the politically motivated shooting, but all victims miraculously survived.

'I know firsthand just what can happen.'

"I should not have made it through the day," Scalise told Blaze News. "God was on that ball field, and there were miracles that were performed."

"Turned out it was a left-wing nut who was motivated to go kill every Republican," Scalise added. "He just wanted to do that. And again, we've seen this over and over again. ... It's insanity. But unfortunately, it's become too prevalent."

RELATED: Democrat Jay Jones' scandals pile up: Criminal investigation emerges on the heels of violent texts

As Scalise noted, these ideologically motivated acts of violence have become commonplace in American political life. Just in the months leading up to the 2024 election, President Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts, with one would-be assassin getting within an inch of fatally shooting him.

Although these acts of violence sent shock waves across the country, these attacks are not limited to politicians.

In September, hundreds of students watched Charlie Kirk get assassinated on the Utah Valley University campus at the kickoff event of his college tour. In the days after the murder, law enforcement found bullet casings with various politically suggestive slogans written on them, including the phrase, "Hey, fascist! Catch!"

While these attacks were a sobering moment for many, some have insisted that political violence is a both-sides issue. Scalise knows "firsthand" this is not the case.

"Wherever it comes from, if somebody's advocating for or committing violence, we should all call it out. Doesn't matter where it's coming from," Scalise told Blaze News. "But it just seems like more and more we're seeing it come from the left."

"They just think if they tag you a Nazi, then that makes it okay to kill you," Scalise added. "That is telling certain people — it's like a dog whistle to say, 'Go kill that person.' And it's just what they say about their political opponents. It's insanity."

RELATED: Vance points to the leaked texts Americans really should care about: 'I refuse to join the pearl clutching'

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

"It's alarming. It's disturbing," Scalise told Blaze News. "Because I know firsthand just what can happen when people say certain things."

One of the most alarming instances of violent rhetoric coming from the left came when now-infamous texts from Jay Jones, the Democrat candidate for Virginia attorney general, were revealed earlier this month. In those texts, Jones fantasized about giving his political adversary "two bullets," insinuated that the man was worse than Hitler, and even wished death upon his kids.

"Do you really want to elect that person as a law enforcement officer in your state?" Scalise asked in response to the texts. "Should other elected officials be accepting and condoning and endorsing that, or should they denounce it, which I did? Everybody should denounce it, and yet some won't for political reasons."

"I think it's a gut-check for people's integrity," Scalise added. "If you're willing to accept a call to violence because you're more worried about a political party advancing than you are worried about civility in this country, that's a real big concern for alarm."

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Spending hawks dig their heels in as White House battles to keep 'big, beautiful bill' afloat



Tensions are running high in Congress as the White House keeps pressuring fiscal conservatives to get on board with President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill."

Despite Trump's Hail Mary pitch to Republicans, specifically fiscal conservatives, Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill, reconciliation talks seem to be going south. While the Rules Committee wraps up its overnight markup, Republicans are still looking for the off-ramp to get their bill passed.

The whole process has been consumed by Republican factions making incompatible demands. The SALT Caucus Republicans were offered a tentative, and very generous, $40,000 cap for state and local tax deductions. Meanwhile, some members of the House Freedom Caucus have pushed for earlier implementation of Medicaid work requirements.

Although both factions made progress toward their respective goals, it still seems like nobody is happy.

'We're going to work with our colleagues to deliver, but there's a long way to go.'

RELATED: Trump pressures House Republican holdouts as reconciliation talks intensify

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas have been two of the most outspoken voices within the conference advocating for fiscal responsibility. Although both acknowledged that moving work requirements to an earlier date rather than the original 2029 implementation was a step in the right direction, they remain unpersuaded by Republican leadership and even the president.

"Look, we are greatly encouraged by the progress that's been made in the last 24 hours," Harris said during a presser Wednesday. "... I'm not sure this can be done this week. I'm pretty confident it can be done in 10 days.”

"We're going to work with the president today," Roy said during the presser. "We're going to work with our colleagues to deliver, but there's a long way to go. I want to be very clear. We've got to deliver on what we're talking about, but we're not going to be able to get the bill done, and that's what we're trying to achieve.”

RELATED: Fiscal hawks send warning as 'big, beautiful bill' clears high-stakes vote: 'We have to do more to deliver'

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Harris told reporters that they initially struck a deal with the White House last night but that they've since walked away from the agreement. A White House official countered the claim and said the administration offered Harris and other spending hawks an array of policy options that the president would allow on the condition that they are able to get the votes.

Trump is now set to meet face-to-face with the House Freedom Caucus and Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.). Notably, Emmer has not yet scheduled the floor vote as, the fate of Trump's bill hangs in the balance.

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