One Picture Worth Just 15 Words Could Change the Entire Virginia Governor’s Race

While the expression is “a picture is worth a thousand words,” as the race for Virginia’s next governor heats up, could it be worth only 15?

That’s not due to inflation. It’s just that sometimes, 15 words may be all that are needed to change the course of history.

But before we discuss those 15 words, for some perspective, let’s look at how just 14 words changed history in Virginia’s last governor’s race exactly four years ago.

The 14 words I refer to are those that former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe used in his ill-fated debate answer on Sept. 28, 2021, as he was running for a second term as governor: “I don’t think parents have the right to tell schools what they should teach.”

Those 14 words cost him the 2021 election (which polls had him leading by a larger margin than Democrat gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger is currently leading Republican nominee Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears by).

Those words might have cost him more than that, because it’s not a stretch to imagine that a two-term Democrat governor of a “purple” state with a Bill and Hillary Clinton pedigree—not to mention a ton of campaign cash—could have been the front-runner in the race to be the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 2028.

That was all done in just 14 words—and McAuliffe’s insistence that he could not, or would not, walk away from them.  

Today, the picture we refer to as being worth 15 words is the photograph of a pro-“transgender” activist protesting outside of an Arlington County School Board meeting where Earle-Sears was speaking out against the school system allowing boys in girls’ bathrooms. The sign the protester was carrying said: “Hey Winsome! If trans can’t share your bathroom, then blacks can’t share my water fountain!”

That image is still circling social media a week and a half later.

Though not wearing any Spanberger campaign identification, her shirt was emblazoned on the front with the acronym “WofA,” which stands for We of Action, a group that has canvassed for Spanberger and is promoting a September canvassing event in support of the Democrat on its website.

The protester’s white hair indicated that she might be old enough to at least have been taught about the segregation that was rampant in Virginia that led to the Democrat-led “Massive Resistance” in 1956. That was what it was called when the state closed schools in Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Front Royal rather than desegregate them in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling declaring segregation was against the law.

Since the photograph of the sign became public, Spanberger’s lead in recent polls has been cut in half, even though she strongly criticized it. One recent poll has Earle-Sears now only trailing by just 5% and within the margin of error.

Spanberger posted to her X account Aug. 23: “The sign displayed in Arlington last night was racist and abhorrent. Many Virginians remember the segregated water fountains (and buses and schools and neighborhoods) of Virginia’s recent history. And no matter the intended purpose or tone and no matter how much one might find someone else’s beliefs objectionable, to threaten a return of Jim Crow and segregation to a Black woman is unacceptable. Full stop.”

She has not addressed it since, but it puts her ahead of McAuliffe, who kept doubling down on his feelings about parents in 2021.

Since the incident, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has begun weighing more on the election, sending out campaign fundraising tweets and emails and appearing at joint events with the Republican candidates.

Additionally, Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, did what few have been willing to do for the Sears campaign: contribute money—$500,000 to be exact—the lifeblood of any campaign. Will that lead to more?

Since then, Earle-Sears’ campaign coffers have swollen to $11 million, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. It’s still less than half of the Spanberger war chest but growing.

Is this incident enough for Sears to turn things around, or is it too late? It occurred a month earlier than McAuliffe’s ill-fated statement in September 2021, and his polling lead was larger at the time. Taken together, that means this race may be closer than people think.

Joe Thomas is The Daily Signal’s Virginia correspondent. He is a 37-year broadcasting veteran with 17 years covering Virginia from the marches to the memorials and everything in between.

Reprinted with Permission from The Daily Signal – By Joe Thomas

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.