Video of the full Oct. 9 debate is available in the player above.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – In their only live televised debate, Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears took center stage to win your vote as Virginia’s first female governor. The debate was broadcast live from Norfolk State University across Virginia on Oct. 9, 2025.

The debate was hosted by WAVY TV’s Tom Schaad and WRIC TV’s Deanna Allbrittin.

Good evening and welcome to tonight’s debate. I’m Deanna Albritton, anchor for WRIC in Richmond.

And I’m Tom Shadd, anchor at Wavy TV and Fox 43 here in Norfolk, Virginia. We have a live audience watching along with you tonight. You’re able to watch the debate in every television market in every county in Virginia, from Roanoke to Norfolk and from Northern Virginia to Richmond.

But before we get to the questions, let’s go over the rules. You will each have 60 seconds to answer a question. Rebuttals and follow-ups get 30 seconds. Candidates, when time is up, you’ll hear this bell. Each candidate will also have 30 seconds for a closing statement. And with that, thanks for joining us candidates. Ms. Earle-Sears, you’re first.

Thank you, Deanna. We want to begin tonight with a topic that may be the only thing that unites all residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the dreaded car tax. Ms. Earle-Sears, you have said that you will ax the car tax in your first year in office, but you will have to replace the revenue for local governments.

So how will you come up with just over $3 billion every year? You’ll have 60 seconds.

Yes, thank you for having me, and it’s a wonderful time to be here, this momentous occasion. This is my former place that I actually represented, Norfolk State University. So on the car tax, you know, we could have gotten rid of that this year because Governor Youngkin put it in his budget that we could get rid of it, but unfortunately, the Democrats decided against that, and so my opponent, she says she’s going to get rid of it too, but she’s going to have to ask her side of the aisle how to do that.

So we had the money, we can do it, but really what I want to ask this first question is, Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and say to him, you must leave the race? He has said that he wants to murder his political opponent, and not only that, but his political opponent’s children, two and five years old.