Spanberger calls for ‘strongest public schools’ in country as she files for governor

Democrat Abigail Spanberger submitted more than 40,000 signatures and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears submitted nearly 20,000 to get on the ballot this November.

Candidates across Virginia today filed the necessary paperwork to get on the ballots for statewide and local elections today (Monday). 

Chief among them were the two leading candidates in the commonwealth’s gubernatorial race: former congresswoman and Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. 

Candidates running in statewide elections – Virginia is also holding elections for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General this fall – had to collect 10,000 signatures, including 400 from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts to get on the ballot this fall. 

Spanberger turned in more than 40,000 signatures, with more than 1,400 coming from each of Virginia’s 11 different congressional districts, her campaign said. Spanberger’s campaign hosted a celebration in Richmond on Monday with supporters to celebrate the reportedly record-breaking milestone. 

Spanberger told the crowd of fired-up supporters at Richmond’s Capital Ale House that her campaign was about winning and regaining power in Virginia, but also about the issues she wants to tackle once elected. 

“It is about going head first at the challenges facing Virginians,” Spanberger said. “Everywhere I travel across the Commonwealth, I hear from parents and community members that they want Virginia to have the strongest public schools in the entire country.”

Spanberger’s strong following built since she flipped a Central Virginia congressional seat in 2018 was on full display on Monday. Veronica Baker of Moseley, Va. told The Dogwood she hoped Spanberger becomes president some day and that her top issue this election is for Democrats to stop President Donald Trump’s agenda from tearing the country apart. 

“I’ve never been this involved (in politics),” Baker said. “Because of what is happening in our country, I said, ‘I’ve got to stop sitting back and start being more active.’”

Spanberger told reporters that chaos caused by the Trump administration in Washington is creating major disruptions for people across Virginia. Asked by The Dogwood if she supported Senate Democrats’ move to back a Republican spending bill, Spanberger said she’s never been in favor of shutting down the government but the budget legislation put forth by Republicans was partisan and terrible.

“I would have liked to have seen a lot greater coordination with the Senators towards the House members, because the House members were quite clear in the approach they were going to take,” Spanberger said. “It’s unfortunate that it appeared that some of the Senate surprised the House.”

For her part, Earle-Sears said in a statement that she submitted nearly 20,000 signatures on Monday to get on the ballot. It was unclear if two potential Republican challengers to Earle-Sears had enough signatures to force a primary. They have until April 3 to do so.

This story has been corrected to reflect that Earle-Sears campaign collected nearly 20,000 signatures. A previous version of this story said she had collected more than 20,000.