#VaGovDebate: Social media highlights from Spanberger, Earle-Sears post debate

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) -- There was a moment of levity when the Virginia gubernatorial candidates acknowledged more positive attributes of their political opponent, but the niceties were short-lived.

Abigail Spanberger and Winsome Earle-Sears took the debate stage on Thursday evening at Norfolk State University. The hour-long event was riddled with tension, clap backs and interruptions. Following its conclusion, and even during the debate, the candidates' social media pages were posting on X.

Keep reading to go through the highlights.

Some debate questions and contention stemmed from topics surrounding the LGBTQ+ community.

Spanberger posted a clip where she stated that the GOP nominee didn't think gay couples should be allowed to marry. Earle-Sears can be heard saying, "That's not discrimination."

In the social media post from Spanberger, she left a one-sentence reply.

".@winwithwinsome— that is, in fact, discrimination."

One of the questions discussed was transgender youth. Spanberger was directly asked if she supported transgender girls using girls' restrooms and playing on girls' sports teams in K-12. While Spanberger didn't directly answer the question, she did say that those decisions should be decided by local and individual schools, not politicians.

Earle-Sears post on the topic began trending on X, with a reach of around 120,000 people an hour after it was posted at 7:50 p.m.

"Abigail Spanberger voted for the so-called Equality Act," the post reads. "That vote says a grown man can walk naked into your daughter’s locker room and if she’s uncomfortable, she’s the problem. Virginia, ours daughters are not the problem, politicians like Abigail are."

Abortion was discussed briefly during the debate. However, Spanberger's post-debate comments on X said that Earle-Sears was contributing to "violent rhetoric" with her stance on abortion.

"My opponent has said some deeply disturbing things about abortion — claiming it’s 'murder' and that 'one day it’s going to be your turn,'" the post reads. "That kind of violent rhetoric has no place in our Commonwealth."

Earle-Sears drew a lot of reaction to her comments about Spanberger's refusal to call for Jay Jones' withdrawal from the Virginia attorney general's race. Jones has been under recent scrutiny after old texts were released to the public in which Jones described a hypothetical scenario where he'd kill then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.

While Spanberger denounced Jones' text and calls for violence, she avoided numerous direct questions on whether she was still endorsing his race.

Spanberger's post reaffirming her stance against political violence as a whole gained traction. The post did not name Jones, but took an overarching approach.

"I unequivocally condemn political violence of any form — it’s not who we are as Virginians," the post reads. "As Governor, I will bring people together to get things done on the issues that unite us — instead of stoking division between our fellow Virginians."

In the post on X, Earle-Sears argued that her opponent was OK with the rhetoric from Jones' messages due to her silence on a continued endorsement.

"Jay Jones said cops should die and fantasized about murdering a dad and his kids," the post reads. "And Abigail Spanberger STILL hasn’t called on him to drop out. That tells us one thing: she's OK with what he said."

Earle-Sears attached a clip of her comments where she, in part, said, "I just don't understand why you can't just come forward and say, 'He needs to go.'"

While the debate is over, the battle for governor is far from over.