Earlier this month, Matt reported on a shocking proposal from Virginia Del. Elizabeth Guzman, a Democrat who believes parents should be jailed for not conforming to their child's sexual orientation or gender identity. That proposal has found its way into Virginia's 7th Congressional District race, where particularly vulnerable Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is seeking re-election, as she campaigned with Guzman. Spanberger's Republican opponent, Yesli Vega, swiftly picked up on the association and informed voters. But another Virginia Democrat who is running for re-election, Rep. Jennifer Wexton in Virginia's 10th Congressional District, may see her association with Guzman affect her race.
Last Friday, Hung Cao, Wexton's Republican opponent, tweeted an ad where he addresses the congresswoman's connection, highlighting how she "has a problem with parents," given that she endorsed Guzman. The ad also includes Wexton's own words, in that she's said, "In a perfect world, we’d see parents who are caring and loving and take care of their kids, but we are not seeing that."
My opponent embraces a politician who'd put parents behind bars.
— Hung Cao (@HungCaoCongress) October 28, 2022
“In a perfect world, we’d see parents who are caring and loving and take care of their kids, but we’re not seeing that.” - @JenniferWexton
Wexton has a problem with parents, and parents have a problem with Wexton. pic.twitter.com/DYUg4fhXK5
Fight For Schools also launched ads on Monday, targeting Spanberger and Wexton for their association, really emphasizing the absurdity of jailing parents when it comes to affirming gender and sexual orientation.
"The Radical left has lost its mind," a narrator claims. "They want felony charges if you say a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. Seriously?" Depending on which race the ad is about, the narrator says, "Hey, Spanberger (or Wexton), keep your friends away from our families because we'll remember in November."
Wexton ad⬇️ /2 pic.twitter.com/1Dpq13XaNT
— Fight For Schools (@fightforschools) October 31, 2022
In a statement to Townhall, Ian Prior, executive director of Fight For Schools, highlighted the importance of informing voters about such a stance. "Several school districts in Virginia believe that families who do not allow their children to ‘change their genders’ should be considered imminent safety risks to their own kids," he said. "Not only do Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton support schools doing this, but one of their top surrogates even proposed a bill that would require all schools to report such parents as child abusers and could result in them losing their children and being prosecuted for felonies. Virginia voters need to know just how radical and anti-parent Spanberger and Wexton truly are."
This is not the only news to come out of Virginia congressional races in recent weeks. Last Tuesday, Cook Political Report updated its ratings in several races, including Virginia's 7th and 10th Congressional Districts.
NEW @CookPolitical: 10 House rating changes this week, including four Dem incumbents from Lean D to Toss Up and two - #AKAL Mary Peltola (D) and #KS03 Sharice Davids (D) - from Toss Up to Lean D. Full analysis: https://t.co/QxOmHybgEl pic.twitter.com/tFYim1sNT6
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 25, 2022
The Spanberger-Vega race was moved from "Lean Democrat" back to Toss Up," as it had been in previous months, while the Wexton-Cao race was moved from "Solid Democrat" to "Likely Democrat."
Cook Political Report, as do other forecasters, already regard the race in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, between Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Republican opponent Jen Kiggans, as a "Toss Up." Polling for that race earlier this month conducted by the Wason Center for Civic Leadership survey research lab at Christopher Newport University showed the two candidates tied. The poll also showed other favorable findings for Republicans, such as the economy/inflation being a top issue and a Republican intensity edge.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member