What do you think? Is this shutdown going to impact the race that you’re in right now?

Well, this isn’t about politics. It’s about leadership, and Abigail Spanberger’s Democratic allies voted to shut down the government, and Virginians are the ones who are paying the price. It’s plain and simple. And Abigail Spanberger, all this time, all throughout summer, has been talking about the love that she has for federal workers. Well, you know how you show me love? It’s not to say it, it’s to do it, and that means show me love by telling Sens. Kane and Warner to get back to their jobs and vote against a shutdown. Vote to open the government back up so that our federal workers themselves can go back to their jobs.

I did ask her that exact thing. She urged both parties to immediately start negotiating to come to a deal. That was her response.

Isn’t that a mealy mouthed response, both parties? All we needed was for seven senators, seven senators to come together, seven Democrats. And so now she’s blaming the Republican Party as well? Every House member who’s a Republican voted for it, and every senator who’s a Republican voted for it. Come on, Abigail, don’t be a coward on this.

You two have a debate next week. Are you going to use the word “coward” in front of her during that debate?

I don’t know what will happen, except we will come forward and the voters will hear from us.

Spanberger also told us that she thinks you should urge the Trump administration to avoid all this talk about mass layoffs given the saturation of federal employees, especially in Northern Virginia. What’s your response to that?

So let me go back to what I’ve originally said. Every single Republican House member voted to keep our government open. Every single Republican senator voted to keep our government open, and yet all we needed was seven Democrats to come forward and say, “let’s keep our government open so that our federal workers who reside in Virginia would keep their jobs,” and we couldn’t find them. So Abigail Spanberger now, you can’t ever get a straight answer from this woman.

As it relates to the Trump administration’s threats for mass layoffs during the shutdown, though, have you had any conversations with the administration about that? You’ve urged Spanberger to lobby the Democratic senators to vote to keep the government open. She’s urging you to lobby the Trump administration to avoid these mass layoffs.

I have answered the question. All of this started because we could not find seven Democrat senators to vote against a shutdown.

The Democrats are voting specifically against this because they argue that there should be an extension of subsidies for health care. Republicans say absolutely not. They won’t do that. So both sides are digging their heels in. Do you support the stand Republicans are taking then?

So here’s the deal. Republicans are trying to negotiate. And 13 of the times when this same possibility of a shutdown happened, the Democrats and the Republicans came to the table and said, “let’s negotiate.” And so what you have now are all of the Democrats saying that unless you agree to increase our deficit, our budget debt, by $1.5 trillion, we’re not going to negotiate. This $1.5 trillion that the Democrats want to add is going to be something that will help those who are illegally here. We cannot afford that.

You have been talking almost exclusively about cultural issues, including the transgender policies in schools in Northern Virginia. Now that this government shutdown is overtaking just about every other issue in Northern Virginia and the D.C. region, do you think that there’s a risk now of those issues being overshadowed by this shutdown?

Are the children still going to school and having the girls undress in front of biological men? Is that still happening? Are biological girls still going to school and having to go to bathrooms with biological boys? Leaders have to take life as it comes, and life doesn’t give you one issue and one issue only, and after you’ve dealt with that, then it moves on. No, leaders have a basket of ideas that come, a basket of problems, and you have to be able to negotiate your way through them. And so we can talk about many things at one time. That’s how the real world works. So we can talk about a shutdown, which was caused by not being able to find seven Democratic senators who would keep our government open and also keep our girl children safe.

Earle-Sears urges Spanberger not to be a ‘coward’ in talking about shutdown

Virginia’s Republican nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, said her Democratic opponent, Abigail Spanberger, needs to put her money where her mouth is when it comes to standing up for federal workers.

Earle-Sears told WTOP’s Nick Iannelli on Friday that the government shutdown affecting federal employees across the state, and particularly in Northern Virginia, is not about politics, but leadership.

It comes just a couple days after WTOP spoke with Spanberger, who said Earle-Sears should be focused on standing up for Virginia jobs as lieutenant governor, instead of blaming Democrats for the shutdown.

Listen to Earle-Sears’ full conversation and read the transcript below.

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Virginia's Republican Lieutenant Gov. and nominee for governor Winsome Earle-Sears speaks with WTOP's Nick Iannelli about the government shutdown and its impact on the gubernatorial election.

The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Nick Iannelli:
What do you think? Is this shutdown going to impact the race that you’re in right now?
Winsome Earle-Sears:
Well, this isn’t about politics. It’s about leadership, and Abigail Spanberger’s Democratic allies voted to shut down the government, and Virginians are the ones who are paying the price. It’s plain and simple.

And Abigail Spanberger, all this time, all throughout summer, has been talking about the love that she has for federal workers. Well, you know how you show me love? It’s not to say it, it’s to do it, and that means show me love by telling Sens. Kane and Warner to get back to their jobs and vote against a shutdown. Vote to open the government back up so that our federal workers themselves can go back to their jobs.

Nick Iannelli:
I did ask her that exact thing. She urged both parties to immediately start negotiating to come to a deal. That was her response.
Winsome Earle-Sears:
Isn’t that a mealy mouthed response, both parties? All we needed was for seven senators, seven senators to come together, seven Democrats. And so now she’s blaming the Republican Party as well?

Every House member who’s a Republican voted for it, and every senator who’s a Republican voted for it. Come on, Abigail, don’t be a coward on this.

Nick Iannelli:
You two have a debate next week. Are you going to use the word “coward” in front of her during that debate?
Winsome Earle-Sears:
I don’t know what will happen, except we will come forward and the voters will hear from us.

Nick Iannelli:
Spanberger also told us that she thinks you should urge the Trump administration to avoid all this talk about mass layoffs given the saturation of federal employees, especially in Northern Virginia. What’s your response to that?
Winsome Earle-Sears:
So let me go back to what I’ve originally said. Every single Republican House member voted to keep our government open. Every single Republican senator voted to keep our government open, and yet all we needed was seven Democrats to come forward and say, “let’s keep our government open so that our federal workers who reside in Virginia would keep their jobs,” and we couldn’t find them. So Abigail Spanberger now, you can’t ever get a straight answer from this woman.

Nick Iannelli:
As it relates to the Trump administration’s threats for mass layoffs during the shutdown, though, have you had any conversations with the administration about that? You’ve urged Spanberger to lobby the Democratic senators to vote to keep the government open. She’s urging you to lobby the Trump administration to avoid these mass layoffs.
Winsome Earle-Sears:
I have answered the question. All of this started because we could not find seven Democrat senators to vote against a shutdown.

Nick Iannelli:
The Democrats are voting specifically against this because they argue that there should be an extension of subsidies for health care. Republicans say absolutely not. They won’t do that. So both sides are digging their heels in. Do you support the stand Republicans are taking then?
Winsome Earle-Sears:
So here’s the deal. Republicans are trying to negotiate. And 13 of the times when this same possibility of a shutdown happened, the Democrats and the Republicans came to the table and said, “let’s negotiate.”

And so what you have now are all of the Democrats saying that unless you agree to increase our deficit, our budget debt, by $1.5 trillion, we’re not going to negotiate. This $1.5 trillion that the Democrats want to add is going to be something that will help those who are illegally here. We cannot afford that.

Nick Iannelli:
You have been talking almost exclusively about cultural issues, including the transgender policies in schools in Northern Virginia. Now that this government shutdown is overtaking just about every other issue in Northern Virginia and the D.C. region, do you think that there’s a risk now of those issues being overshadowed by this shutdown?
Winsome Earle-Sears:
Are the children still going to school and having the girls undress in front of biological men? Is that still happening? Are biological girls still going to school and having to go to bathrooms with biological boys?

Leaders have to take life as it comes, and life doesn’t give you one issue and one issue only, and after you’ve dealt with that, then it moves on. No, leaders have a basket of ideas that come, a basket of problems, and you have to be able to negotiate your way through them. And so we can talk about many things at one time.

That’s how the real world works. So we can talk about a shutdown, which was caused by not being able to find seven Democratic senators who would keep our government open and also keep our girl children safe.

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