The Daily Signal - John Reid on How Virginia's Earle-Sears Pressed in Debate, Gained in Polls

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

It has been a tumultuous week in Virginia’s Statewide races. The fallout from the Jay Jones text messages continues to reverberate across the nation now and in the midst of that? The one and only debate between Gubernatorial candidates, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger.  Spanberger had turned down a CNN-hosted debate saying she wanted “local news media” to moderate the debate. She may rue that decision because after a contetiuous first half of the debate in which the Lieutenant Governor would frequently interrupt filibuster-like answers asking if Spanberger was going to answer the actual question, the moderators began to pick up on that which led to what I think is the “McAuliffe Moment” of the debate You’ll hear it in the beginning of this podcast, and I think you will find it interesting that it was prompted by the same tactic Glenn Youngkin used to get Terry to admit what he really thought.  After the debate a Poll was conducted by the Trafalgar Group that shows that incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares is ahead of Jones 48.9%-43.1% and has the two top races ‘statistically tied’ (within the margin of error). Spanberger’s 12-point lead is now 2.6% with 5.6% still undecided and Delegate Ghazala Hashmi is only ahead of John Reid 46.8% to 45.9%. We caught up with the former Ronald Reagan and George Allen aide on the way to a morning campaign stop to talk about these events. Keep Up With The Daily Signal   Sign up for our email newsletters:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.dailysignal.com/email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠     Subscribe to our other shows:    The Tony Kinnett Cast: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2284199939⁠ The Signal Sitdown: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2026390376⁠   Problematic Women:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL7765680741⁠   Victor Davis Hanson: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9809784327⁠     Follow The Daily Signal:    X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=DailySignal⁠ Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/thedailysignal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Truth Social:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://truthsocial.com/@DailySignal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  YouTube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠    Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of the Daily Signal podcast. I'm your host, Joe Thomas, Virginia correspondent for The Daily Signal. Before we dive into today's interview, I want to thank you for tuning in today. If you're a first-time listener, The Daily Signal, brings you fact-based reporting and conservative commentary on politics, policy, and culture. And I hope you join our band of regular listeners to our podcast. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and also take it. a moment to rate and review us wherever you get your podcast. You can find additional content

at DailySignal.com. Now, let's get started with today's conversation right after this. This Columbus Day weekend, the Trafalgar Group issued the results of a survey of Virginia voters that was conducted certainly in the wake of J. Jones' violent text messages coming to light regarding former Speaker Todd Gilbert, but also in the wake only just. the day after the debate between Winsome Earl Sears and Abigail Spanberger, a debate in which we saw a familiar tactic bring out an answer that one of the candidates didn't necessarily want out in public. The question was, should transgender girls who are biological males be allowed to use

girls' bathrooms and play on girls' sports teams in K-12? You have 15 seconds to clarify. In cases across Virginia, I think it's incumbent upon parents and educators and administrators in each local community to make decisions locally. That's what this is about. Ms. Earl Sears? There should never be nude men in locker rooms. Oh my goodness, we finally have her saying that, but you voted for that. If that tactic sounded familiar, you're right. Flashback four years.

So first of all, this shows how clueless Glenn Yonkin is. He doesn't understand what the laws were because he's never been invoever. here in helping Virginia, but it was not. The parents had to write to veto bills, veto books, Glenn, not to be knowledge about it, also take them off the shelves. And I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision. You vetoed it.

So, yeah, I stopped the bill that I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. You know, I get really... A very familiar sounding tactic. Will it work? Polls seem to say it will be. We caught up with Lieutenant gubernatorial candidate John Reed, who is now well within the margin of error in his race against Gazala Hashmi, to talk about the impact of the Jones text revelations and debates. And if he'll ever have one of his own with Gazala Hashmi.

Today is day 118, where she has refused to debate, 118 days since she became the nominee. And she has refused to do one joint appearance, not one debate. The few press conferences that she's had have been RSVP only. So her own staff got to pick who was in the room. I mean, I don't understand why the press in Virginia, which isn't, you know, a nothing group, why they're willing to be treated this way. What is up with that? That's crazy. Well, I have a feeling we're going to get a bunch of Jake Tapper moments afterwards where they try to launder their reputation by saying, well, we knew all along.

I try to retell history, John. But talk about debates. You know, the immediate reaction of the Winsome Sears Abigail Spanberger debate was, oh, gosh, she's being so aggressive. I don't know. And I talked to a lot of ladies that are friends of mine that were, I don't know. But I'll tell you something, you know, the base, the Republican base, it was like, finally. And I feel like they're rising to the challenge now after seeing her hold Abigail Spanberger to task, almost to the point of I thought Spanberger was going to blow her top. She was looking so tense about trying to control herself.

Blow her top or have a meltdown. You know, Abigail Spanberger, and I think I can say this, you know, I'm not a jerk, but she can be. She was really horrible when she was running against Dave Brad for Congress. She was my Congresswoman for a while. And, you know, one of the things that I have to warn people about is thuggery, people who use awful techniques and kind of abusive attitudes in order to get what they want. And then they want everybody else to be polite to them once they're in. And, you know, I'm a nice guy. I'm a polite person.

I believe in the Virginia way of being dignified and treating people with respect. But let's be clear, Abigail Spanberger and her family and her supporters were they sat in the front row and were not good participants in the Democratic process when she was trying to get in Congress. And now it's coming back to her because she stood up there on the stage and looked like a deer in the headlights and refused to engage. engage, which I thought was kind of, you know, I'm hesitant to say this, but I thought it was kind of racist not to engage with winsome. Like, who do you think you are? She is the Republican nominee. She's challenging you. It's the two of you on stage. I mean, what, you just get to stare at the moderator and not actually answer what your opponent is saying. I'll say, there's something weird going on about that. I didn't like that. She's not ready to be.

governor. I mean, this lady, I look at her. She's been in the Congress. And I, in no disrespect, anybody's in the House of Representatives. I interned in the House of Representatives. I have friends. I like personal friends who have been Congress people. But you're one of hundreds. You know, this is a very different role being the chief executive of the Commonwealth. And I thought the way she handled herself on stage, you had a Marine who was taking it to her opponent, was very aggressive, and then you had this lady who just kind of froze and didn't know what to do or what to say. So everybody's got to make their judgment. And in the week that followed, what I've noticed is a lot of people having, you know, thought about it, said, well, you know, she never said

anything unfair. She didn't ask Abigail, you know, like the Mikey Cheryl, you know, you killed tens of thousands New Jersey people by, you know, having a magazine that had articles about opioids. You know, she didn't make any statements that weren't true or ask her any questions that weren't true. She, you know, one of the things I thought was interesting is how she dragged the moderators onto her side, how Winston won them over, because eventually by the end of the debate, they're like, well, you know, you really didn't answer that question, Ms. Spanberger, could you give it? And I was thinking, wow, she actually, I don't know, through embarrassment or not, But I think the ripple of effects, Trafalgar just issued a poll.

And it was done after the debate last week. And it shows that I think they're within two percentage points of each other now, which statistically is within that margin of error. You are even closer, even without having a debate, but by being associated with this brand, you're now like a point. behind or, again, within margin of error. And Jason Miarish, God bless Jay Jones text messages, is now six points ahead for the Attorney General's race. So I think that there is a motivation that wasn't there earlier on in the campaign. Do you sense that? The Democrats are collapsing, and it's because they're wrong on the issues. I mean, they're the ones pushing boys and girls' sports. They're the ones putting my mother in jeopardy when she goes to the spa or goes to the doctor's office and they say that a man can be in her bathroom, even if it's some sicko who's been arrested a bunch of times for perversion.

I mean, this is not normal behavior and they're on the wrong side of the issue. They are always for higher taxes. They never are really on the side of the workers. I think people are beginning to wake up to that. And then you get the Jay Jones texts. You realize this is the party that is acting in a way that motivates the crazies to go out and harm other people. We knew that, though. You and I did because we talked about it back in 2020.

Those weren't Republicans who were out the streets. Nope. Nope. You know, those were radicals out in the streets, pulling down statues. You know, not voting, not going to the city council and voting to take statues down, pulling down statues with ropes. They were the ones of firebombing buildings. And then they try to come back and act like that wasn't them. Hell no, I know exactly who it was.

We saw it in 2020. You're the ones for motivating the political assassination attempts. You're the ones that are motivating people to issue threats to try to kill me for running for lieutenant governor. Excuse me. I kind of take that personally. if you disagree with me on public policy, fine, I can handle that. But now I've spent the last seven months worried about getting a bullet in my head. And I resent it.

And I will tell you, I think Virginians are tired of this stuff. They want responsible leaders who will disagree appropriately, who will express their opinion without tap dancing around it. Let's be candid with each other, but won't advance a violent mindset. And the Democrats are on the wrong side of everything. And it deserves. They deserve the collapse they're seeing. Let me tap into the old broadcaster there. The newsman.

The lights come on. The anchor says, you know, the IFB says 10 seconds to air. The radio red light goes on, John. Because I think this is symptomatic of a government that has gained. And I think Glenn Yonkin and Winsom Sears have been working in Jason Mierrez about getting rid of these levers of power. I joked about letting Gazala Hashmi near the levers of power any closer than she is. But Virginia's government holds a lot of power. We learned that under Ralph Northam's shutdowns. And I think you're seeing this kind of attitude about, and it goes away if we take that

kind of power away, because then it doesn't become, I have to put two bullets in Todd Gilbert's head because we can disagree, but at the end of the day, it's just about defending people's rights. It's not about trafficking money, trafficking power, trafficking influence. And I think that's what feeds some of this. Am I crazy? I think you're correct. There is a great deal of authority. And if the Democrats get the governor's office, they already have the Senate. It's in 2119. That's one reason all the people who have told me, oh, it doesn't really matter who's lieutenant. You kidding me? It's 2119. They're going to be tied votes. Do you want Gazala Hashmi, the radical leftist, in there? Casting those tied votes, breaking those ties, because she's going to go the wrong way and she's going to torpedo Virginia.

Plus, I got news for you. You're going to have a radical leftist as governor in four years because Gazala Hashmi is going to go get all of her friends from across the country. You know, there'll be all these stories about the first Muslim governor in America. You know, she will capitalize on that. And there will be millions and millions and millions of dollars. So the people who blow off the lieutenant governor's race, you better be sure that you are prepared to accept a radical lady like Gazala Hashmi as governor in four years if you don't take steps and go vote to stop this craziness now. And, you know, right to work is on the ballot.

If we lose right to work, all these jobs that Governor Yonkin has brought in, Governor Allen, Governor McDonald, I mean, all the Governor Gilmore, all the Republican governors have been very successful at using that right to work clause to bring in jobs. That's going to go away. We'll have abortion tourism in Virginia. I mean, that's sick to me, but that's what you'll have. You'll have Virginia will become a stop on the abortion. tourism train, which is insane. So people really need to think about this. You talked about

first Muslim governor. I mean, if it was somebody like Zudi Jasser from the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, I would not have a problem with somebody of the Islamic faith becoming governor. I just, it's when you see the radicalism that I think President Trump in his speech to the Knesset and his visit to Egypt and the Arab countries afterwards, And this peace deal that they've managed to broker this, really, it's a trade deal in the Middle East speaks to the fact that there are not, they're not all the radicals that Gazala Hashmi is where she's out there marching, you know, chanting from the river to the sea and supporting all of these marches on all the college campuses. See, that's the key thing. That's the key thing. Ghazala Hashmi went and marched with the pro Hamas crowd.

They're photos of it. their tapes of her marching with them. This is, and then now she won't explain herself. Look, last week they were beating up on me saying, I'm Islamophobic. Now, forget the fact that I lived in the Middle East. I lived in Kuwait. I lived in Bahrain. It was your job.

I'm probably the most traveled person to ever run for statewide office in Virginia around the world, if we're being honest. And I have numerous friends in multiple countries that are dominated by Islam. So I don't need an education or a shame session from anybody in the state of Virginia. I have been around the block more than once. That's why Gazala Hashmi should answer questions. There are legitimate questions about Sharia law and how you will deal with Sharia law if it comes in conflict with the laws of Virginia. That is not made up.

That's not fanciful. That's not ugly. That's a legitimate question. And you know what? They asked Pat Robertson that question, evangelical Christian when he was a person. running for president. Pat, how are you going to navigate your religious beliefs if they come in conflict with the laws of the United States? Was it unfair then? Is it unfair to ask me as a gay man, how I'm going to navigate this situation? I get asked that all the time between the evangelical

Christians, winsome seers, not agreeing with me. People ask me unpleasant, uncomfortable questions every day, but what? Gazzalah Hashmi doesn't have to answer anything. No. And if you dare ask the question, suddenly you're the bigot. Oh, hell no, I reject that. That is wrong. I will not tolerate it. See, this is why I would really love for her to have a debate with you. I wrote a column for the Daily Signal that hasn't been published yet, but the title of it, the working title is this is why we're going to get fewer and fewer debates. But I actually think it's a reason we should have more and more. Yes. Because I think, you know, this is why people like Hashmi

will try to run out the clock. They don't want to engage with you and have that moment. I got a text message while we were talking, John, a listener said, you know, Spanberger did have the McCalliff moment when she said, I don't think boys should be in girls' locker rooms. And, you know, maybe she did. Maybe the trans community abandons her for that and just stays home. I don't know. But it is sad when identity politics takes over and we've confused support versus rights. when she said that, she's lying. Well, yeah. You know, the mistake she made was that she went with the conservative idea on that because that's not what she thinks.

It's very well documented. It's not what she voted for in Congress. Yeah. I mean, Abigail and the Democrats, I'm sorry, you're wrong on this issue. You're going to have to own it, though. You don't get to say, oh, now we're going to navigate this. No, you have been 100% in on the whole trans insanity. for years. And again, I am the gay candidate, and I'm the one telling you, this is insane. This has got

to stop. Women and girls deserve respect. They deserve privacy. How is it that I'm a bigger feminist than Abigail Spanberger? This is crazy. But it's the truth. You have common sense. You have common sense, John. Yeah, exactly. And I respect the women in my life. I respect my sister. I respect my mother. I respect my little niece who is four years old. I'm going to protect them. That's what a man does is protect everybody in their family, but especially the women. I mean, this is crazy that we're even having to discuss it. And Abigail got caught.

As this podcast posts to the Internet on October 14th, we are three weeks removed from the culmination of election season here in Virginia on Election Day. That'll do it for today's show. don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on new episodes from The Daily Signal. Every weekday you can catch top news in 10 to keep up with the day's top headlines in just 10 minutes, and every weekday afternoon catch Victor Davis Hansen's thoughtful analysis for The Daily Signal. If you like what you hear on this show, would you take a minute and leave us comment? We love hearing your feedback. Thanks again for being with us today.