Where Virginia’s gubernatorial nominees stand on the economy

Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger has a lot to say about economic policy. Her opponent? Not so much. 

Election Day is just under two months away and a new poll from Virginia Commonwealth University shows that the cost of living is top of mind for voters who’ll be deciding the commonwealth’s next governor.

So we decided to take a quick look at what each candidate has proposed when it comes to the economy. 

The Democratic nominee for governor, Abigail Spanberger, has a number of economic policy proposals aimed at lowering costs for Virginians, and the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, is more vague about her plans. 

Abigail Spanberger’s economic agenda

Spanberger’s economic policy platform includes proposals to address the high cost of housing, health care, and energy. She’s been a vocal critic of the harmful impacts of Trump administration policies that caused thousands of federal workers in Virginia to lose their jobs and rural health clinics to close. 

“As Governor, I’ll direct my Administration to expand workforce training initiatives, so that we can grow our talent here in Virginia and get our economy back on track,” she posted on social media on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Spanberger has also pledged to fight the high cost of prescription drugs by strictly enforcing price transparency laws and enforcing penalties related to price gouging. On energy, Spanberger wants to make Virginia more energy independent by increasing local generation and to make sure data centers are paying their fair share and not driving up energy costs. 

On housing, Spanberger has emphasized the need to make it easier to increase the housing supply after a years-in-the-making housing affordability crisis has made it a top issue for many Virginians.

Spanberger has criticized Earle-Sears for backing the Trump administration as its policies hurt Virginia’s economy and workers. Just last week, a medical group blamed its closing of three clinics on President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Earle-Sears has privately acknowledged Trump policies hurt her in the polls, but publicly she’s downplayed the impacts of Trump’s cuts to the federal government. 

When a CNN anchor in August pushed Earle-Sears to comment on the federal job cuts, she said she wanted to “talk about real issues.”

Winsome Earle-Sears’ economic agenda

Earle-Sears website makes vague references to her work as Virginia lieutenant governor to lower taxes, cut government spending, and remove regulations without offering any examples. 

Earlier in the campaign cycle, Earle-Sears made a big show of talking about wanting to get rid of the car tax, something previous Republican governors have tried and failed to do. 

Last December, Earle-Sears also penned an op-ed published by Virginia Scope discussing her support for Virginia’s “right-to-work” law. (Spanberger doesn’t support a full repeal but has said she’s open to labor law reforms).

“Growing our economy doesn’t stop at protecting Right to Work,” Earle-Sears wrote. “We must strengthen public-private partnerships that drive innovation.”

In the op-ed, Earle-Sears boasts of Virginia’s ranking as a top place for business, but in her time as lieutenant governor, Virginia has fallen in those rankings. 

Rather than propose specific economic policies, Earle-Sears has primarily focused on culture war issues most likely to appeal to the Republican base, such as targeting the rights of LGBTQ Virginians.