Virginia’s first woman governor could come from either party

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - For the first time in Virginia, two women may face off to become governor.

Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Seares, who announced her bid for the Republican nomination Thursday, may run against Virginia’s 7th District Representative Abigail Spanberger.

“There are only 18 states that have never had a woman governor, and Virginia is one of them,” said Larry Sabato, Director of the UVA Center for Politics. “Virginia is one of the largest and most diverse states that’s never had a woman governor. So, this would be interesting if it happened, but it’s also overdue.”

Sabato says you can expect two female campaigns to focus more on policy points and less on smear tactics.

“People may disagree about this, but in general, I found women candidates to be much more interested in the substance of politics and much less interested in personal attacks,” Sabato said. “I don’t want to over generalize about gender behavior, but men do tend to get more vicious faster than women do. That’s just my experience.”

Sabato says an all-female race may actually take gender out of the equation, because it could no longer serve as an advantage or disadvantage.

“There have to be other indicators that come into play,” said Sabato. “Well, I think basically men in the Republican Party would say our woman’s better than your woman, and men in the Democratic Party would say our woman is better than your woman.”

Unlike Virginia’s current governor, Sabato says Earle-Sears has spoken out against Republican nominee Donald Trump. That means, he says, the Lt. Governor would be unlikely to simply extend her predecessor’s administration.

“She didn’t want [Trump] to be the nominee,” Sabato said. “She thought he was too controversial, and he had too many legal matters, and she wanted somebody else as the nominee. Well, she was pretty much by herself in doing it, but I admired the fact that she had the guts to do that.”

Both Spanberger and Earle-Sears, he says, are not afraid to speak their minds.

“If it ends up being the two of them, we’ll have a good year,” Sabato said.

Spanberger’s path to the nomination seems fairly clear.

Earle-Sears may still see a challenger emerge. Her most likely opponent is Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.

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