Virginia's 2025 governor's race is shaping up to be a referendum on the Second Amendment, pitting Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a proud Marine and staunch defender of gun rights, against Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat backed by nearly every major gun-control group in America.
Earle-Sears, endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund, is running on a message of freedom, safety, and individual empowerment.
She says the right to self-defense "must always be protected," arguing that government overreach and anti-gun laws put innocent Americans — especially women — at risk.
Spanberger, meanwhile, has built much of her career on advocating for gun restrictions.
She has championed bans on semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines, calling them "common-sense" reforms.
Earle-Sears calls those measures unconstitutional attacks on law-abiding citizens.
The contrast could not be sharper.
Earle-Sears is a Black immigrant from Jamaica who served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, rising to the rank of gunnery sergeant. Her pro-Second Amendment stance, supporters say, undercuts the left’s identity-politics narrative — which is why the media often downplays it.
"The anti-gun Left doesn't want this race to be about freedom," Earle-Sears told NRA's America's 1st Freedom magazine. "They want it to be about control."
Spanberger's team is trying to shift the focus toward "law and order" messaging, painting her as a protector of public safety while downplaying her anti-gun record.
But Spanberger's voting record tells a different story.
She supported the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, legislation critics say would have effectively defunded police and diverted resources to left-wing activist groups.
Earle-Sears has made it clear she intends to do the opposite.
She vows to support law enforcement, defend the Second Amendment, and veto any bill that restricts Virginians' rights to own and carry firearms.
"If you're breaking into my home," she once said on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, "I'm gonna shoot you. I'm gonna pray for you, but I'm gonna shoot you."
That blunt honesty has made Earle-Sears a rising star among conservatives nationwide.
She argues that Black voters, in particular, are starting to reconsider their loyalty to a party that "works against their own interests" by undermining self-defense rights.
History, she reminds voters, is on her side.
"The first people to have their guns confiscated were Black Americans," she said, citing figures such as Harriet Tubman, who carried a pistol for protection while leading enslaved people to freedom.
In a state that played a founding role in writing the Bill of Rights, the symbolism is powerful.
Virginia has become ground zero in the national debate over gun rights, with razor-thin Democratic majorities in the legislature threatening to roll back years of pro-Second Amendment progress.
According to a recent poll by Virginia Commonwealth University's Wilder School, Spanberger leads 49 % to 42 % among registered voters.
Earle-Sears says she's fighting not just for Virginians but for freedom itself.
"If you're not safe and secure, nothing else matters," she said. "We can't talk about jobs or education until we defend the right that protects all others."
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