Abortion, education, crime are the top issues on in Virginia’s 2023 elections

Virginia voters are getting bombarded with TV ads from candidates and outside groups in the state, with less than a month to go until legislative elections that could give Republicans full control of state government.

Here’s a taste of the top issues voters are seeing on the airwaves in some of the most competitive contests, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking platform. All of them speak to the policy disputes that could decide the 2024 election in a year — but in the meantime, they will decide the course of Virginia for the final two years of GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term.

Abortion

Abortion was a top campaign issue during the 2022 midterm elections after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. And the issue continues to dominate political campaigns where state laws are contingent on party control.

Youngkin supports banning abortions statewide after 15 weeks, with certain exceptions, but it’s a measure that already failed in the Democratic-controlled state Senate.

In a state Senate race in the Williamsburg area, Democratic incumbent Monty Mason has campaigned heavily on abortion.  

In a TV ad, his campaign claims that his Republican opponent, former York County Sheriff Danny Diggs, would impose “radical new restrictions on women’s reproductive freedom, jailing doctors for providing life-saving care.” In another ad, Mason’s campaign alleges that Diggs has “promised to pass a sweeping new ban on abortion in Virginia making OB-GYNs felons.”

Diggs denies these allegations, saying “I have never vowed that, I’ve never said it,” and “all that is made up stuff.”

Senate Republicans, like state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, an OB-GYN running for re-election near Richmond, hope to put the Senate back in GOP control. And Dunnavant is also making abortion a central issue in her campaign.

In one TV ad, she says “I don’t support an abortion ban, period,” and that “15 weeks is reasonable” as an amount of time for someone to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

Another of Dunnavant’s ads attacked her Democratic opponent, state Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, claiming “his position is extreme” and that he “helped lead the charge” with the state’s current abortion law.

VanValkenburg’s campaign responded in its own TV ad, saying “we can’t trust Siobhan Dunnavant” after she previously voted for a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks.

Youngkin’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia, launched an ad about abortion last week, with a narrator saying that Democrats who call Youngkin’s abortion policy a “ban” are spreading “disinformation” and “politics at its worst.”

“Virginia Republicans support a reasonable 15-week limit with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother,” the narrator adds.

Education

Republican and Democratic candidates are campaigning heavily on education, but with radically different approaches.

Some Republicans are tying education to crime.

In a TV ad paid for by Diggs’ campaign, a mother says that as a state senator, Mason “supported soft-on-crime policies that threatened our children.”

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats like Mason and VanValkenburg are tying their Republican opponents to book bans. Efforts to restrict student access to certain books in Virginia have doubled this year amid a nationwide debate about what students should be taught in school.

In an ad run by VanValkenburg’s campaign, a narrator claims that “MAGA Republicans are banning books” and “censoring what our students learn.”

Another approach to school safety in campaign ads is rooted in the threat of school shootings, of which there have been nearly 60 across the country so far this year, as of Oct. 3.

VanValkenburg, a high school history and government teacher, said in a TV ad that “for my students, the fear of school shootings is always present,” and that “we have to do more to protect our kids to keep guns out of schools.”

Crime

The statewide uptick in crime over the last few years is another pillar of political campaigns in Virginia.

In one state Senate district, which includes parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties, former Loudoun County prosecutor and Democratic candidate Russet Perry is citing her record, telling voters in a TV ad that “I put away sexual predators and murderers, working with both Republicans and Democrats. Nothing matters more than keeping families safe.”

Perry’s opponent, Republican Juan Pablo Segura, is attempting to counter Perry’s record as a prosecutor. A TV ad from Segura’s campaign depicts a home robbery and implies Perry’s “soft on crime” record” is to blame. In the ad, a narrator claims that “ever since [Perry] became a county prosecutor, they don’t even bother pressing charges anymore.”

Another ad from Segura’s campaign invokes a classic Republican attack, suggesting that Perry is backed by “defund the police” groups. Perry has not addressed the allegation, which is based on endorsements by groups focused on other issues, like abortion, that in 2020 made statements about reducing or reallocating police department funding.

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