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WINCHESTER, Virginia – The city that was once the most contentious city in the Confederacy is divided again—this time based on the merits of the candidates in the upcoming election. Virginia elections.
Although the “Valley Road” (now US-11) through Winchester no longer sees recurring bloody battles, residents of the northwestern Virginia town—the region's apple capital in the fall and home of GOP gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earl-Sears—offered opposing views on the issues shaping the race.
Fox News Digital spoke with several residents of Winchester, Virginia, along the Loudoun Street Arcade, a pedestrian part of the historic city's central avenue that is home to several shops, restaurants and a Civil War museum.
Regarding the murder text scandal engulfing Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones, Kevin Callinan of nearby Stevens City, Virginia, said “no sane person” would have said what Jones said about then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Shenandoah Republican.
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Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsom Earl-Sears, a Republican (left), is running against Democrat Abigail Spanberger (right) in the state's 2025 gubernatorial race. (Kristen Zeis/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“It was just terrible,” he said of Jones' conversation about Gilbert's murder and to see harm done to what the Democrat called the Republicans' “little fascist” children.
“He just had to have the moral virtue to just say, ‘I’ll resign. I said it, it was terrible to even say it. Even if it was a joke, it's terrible and I should have just walked away,” Callinan said.
Nance, of Winchester, Va., said Jones “crossed the line” and that Earl-Sears is the best candidate to lead VA in light of Spanberger's response to the controversy.
J.C. Moore of Berryville, Virginia, a rural community and gateway to Virginia horse country in neighboring Clark County, told Fox News Digital he's unsure whether to oust Jones.
Moore pointed to previous instances of political rhetoric that included violence or murder, citing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's controversy centered on Hillary Clinton.
“It's unpleasant,” he said of the all-encompassing rhetoric. The Jones case “should be examined and criticized. But I’m not sure about complete expulsion.”
Danielle, of Winchester, Virginia, said Spanberger's campaign would have been “good if not for Jay Jones.”
“Her entire platform is going to crumble because of Jones,” she said, adding that Spanberger is otherwise a very smart and “amazing” candidate, but Jones’ writing dwarfs the Democratic ticket.
Nancy added that Spanberger didn't respond enough to Jones scandal.
“She said she would leave it up to the voters, and I think if she's going to be our governor, she definitely needs to take a stand.”
The couple, visiting the area from Florida but not Virginia voters, said they were closely following the race from 1,000 miles away.
“This attorney general needs to go,” a gentleman told Fox News Digital as he walked by, adding that if they lived in Virginia, they would vote for Earl-Sears.
Asked about Transgender bathroom controversy in nearby LoudounFairfax and Prince William, Virginia, counties — and as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger responded to criticism of her responses to it — Callinan said she had “shied away from the issue.”
“She keeps saying, 'I'm a mother of three daughters,' but… the main question is, 'Should I have a boy in the bathroom with my three daughters?' I think she would say no, but politically she wouldn't even be honest about it,” he said.
“She wouldn't want a grown man going to the gym with his daughters, but she knows she doesn't want to say that,” he said, apparently referring to the case of chronically accused sex offender Richard Cox in Arlington, Virginia.
As for which candidate would be best able to address the crime crisis that is especially evident in urban areas, said Cullinan, the president Donald Trump had done a “great job” in Washington, D.C., and that neighboring Virginia areas would be best served by Earl-Sears, following the president's lead.
“Democrats are never going to tighten up because they know it would alienate a significant portion of their electorate,” he said.
Chris Ladner of Vienna, Va., a heavily Democratic Fairfax County district, said Spanberger was “not serious” about Controversy about transgender people in toilets and “evading what she really thinks.”
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Ladner said he supports Earl-Sears' response to the issue.
Living near Washington, Ladner added that Earl-Sears and current Attorney General Jason Miyares would have done, and have done, a good job respectively on the crime issue.
“Jay Jones will not be successful at this,” Ladner said.
Nancy separately agreed.
“Certainly it would be Sears (who would be better). Firstly, she was a military man, and secondly, she had a clear idea of \u200b\u200bwhat is good and what is bad.”
“And plus, I like her religious views,” she said of the devout Christian.
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Moore, however, disagreed in his comments to Fox News Digital.
He said Spanberger had a “deeper” background in law enforcement — having worked as a federal agent before her time in Congress — and that her stance on economic equality would help on that issue.
“A big part of (the crime problem) is economic inequality and poverty,” he said.
Danielle added that neither candidate is ideal for addressing the crime crisis, but if Spanberger can oust Jones from the ticket, she will win the proverbial tiebreaker.
Later this week, attention turns to the other end of the Zachary Taylor Highway from Winchester as Miyares and Jones square off at the University of Richmond in their only debate.
The battle will likely headline the murder text controversy. Notably, the debate is taking place just across city limits from Henrico County, Virginia, where Spanberger is from.
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In the lieutenant governor's race, Republican nominee John Reed has repeatedly called for a debate against Democratic challenger Sen. Ghazala Hashmi of Chesterfield, but any potential fight remains stalled.
Meanwhile, Earl-Sears witnessed the infusion of money into the election campaign since the Jones news broke, and on Monday released a new ad called “Trigger” that uses clips from her Norfolk debate to criticize Spanberger's response to the Jones controversy.
