When Spanberger was questioned about an accusation from Republican Lt. Gov Winsome Earle-Sears that she is “fine with putting men in girls’ locker rooms,” Spanberger launched into a rant about federal funding rather than answering the question. Her refusal to directly answer questions about males in female spaces has been a pattern on the campaign trail, as the transgender issue has become a flashpoint in Virginia politics and the 2026 governor’s race.
Spanberger, rather than address the issue directly, pointed to “conflicting evidence or conflicting interpretations” around the Title IX, and slammed the Trump administration for using its interpretation of the federal civil rights law as a “cudgel.” The Trump administration notably excludes “gender identity” from its interpretation of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination is any education program as a condition of receiving federal funding. The Trump administration has investigated a handful of Virginia school districts and found them in violation of Title IX for allowing students to use bathrooms and play on sports teams according to “gender identity,” rather than biological reality. Spanberger said:
The reality is that the federal government has the ability to change the letter of the law, right? Through Congress, through the Senate, bills go to the president’s desk. Right now, what we are seeing is there are differences between what is the law of the land under Title IX and what are executive orders put out by the White House. And in circumstances where there are conflicting evidence or conflicting interpretations, the reality is the federal government has to be clear in what is the real guidance available to our schools as it relates to use of locker rooms. The reality is that we have multiple jurisdictions who believe they are following the letter of the law and have their lawyers conveying why. And at the end of the day, we have a president of the United States who is taking away and threatening federal funding.
What I think is so egregious is that this is a tool that unfortunately this president continues to use of the threat of federal funding. Congress passed funding. It is not the president’s ability — this is, you know, basic Article One…If you believe in the constitution, the president doesn’t have the ability to just pull back funding. And it isn’t just to these public schools. It is to our research institutions. It’s for cancer research. It is for funding to conservation programs under USDA that are vital, vital, vital to so many of the farmers and producers who employ rotational grazing practices and other conservation practices, voluntary ones on their land who’ve been promised investments and the president just pulls back those funds.
The real challenge that exists here is, is that we have a president who is using congressional approved federal spending as a cudgel and just as an issue of principle, you know, right now it’s coming after the schools. Before, it was coming after conservation programs. Now, it’s also consistently across our universities and institutions of higher education and research, uh, it, it is a, it’s a, it’s a dire circumstance, but when it comes down to, um, you know, understanding the implementation of, of how it is that, you know, our kids are coexisting in the classroom, um, or on the sports field, yes, I do think that in, in many cases, it’s the local community that knows their community best, um, and, and can readily make decisions and provide guidance about how to ensure that all our kids are safe.
Earle-Sears reacted to the clip of Spanberger’s interview in a post to X on Sunday, calling her opponent’s answer a “word salad.”
“YIKES: Abigail Spanberger gives a 2-minute word salad defending her support for men in girls’ bathrooms and predators in their locker rooms,” Earle-Sears said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also criticized Spanberger’s answer and compared her to former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is infamous for her long-winded, circular answers to interview questions.
“This makes Kamala Harris sound coherent,” Miller said. “Short version: Spanberger wants psychologically disturbed men in your daughter’s restrooms and locker rooms.”
For years, Virginia has been one of the states at the center of the transgender debate, and ahead of the election, gender identity policies in schools have been under heightened scrutiny again. Along with those policies, gubernatorial candidates have weighed in on a heinous story of a transgender-identifying convicted pedophile who accessed several Virginia public school pools in off hours and allegedly stripped and fondled himself in front of women and minors in girls’ locker rooms.
In response to the chaos, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) issued a Executive Directive on Thursday ordering the state’s Board of Health to issue regulations barring transgender-identifying males from female sports and intimate spaces.
During a debate last week, Spanberger was asked if she would keep or rescind that guidance. She refused to clearly answer yes or no.
Breitbart News previously reached out to Spanberger’s campaign for comment on an update to the saga of convicted sex offender Richard Cox, and also asked whether she would rescind Youngkin’s guidance as governor. A spokesperson did not answer whether Spanberger would rescind the guidance.
“Convicted sex offender Richard Cox is a predator who should be in jail — and that’s exactly where he is,” a spokesperson told Breitbart News via email.
“Abigail is a parent of three daughters in Virginia public schools and a former federal law enforcement officer who went after child predators — nothing is more important to her than the safety of Virginia’s kids,” the spokesperson continued. “As Governor, Abigail will work with state and local law enforcement officers to keep Virginia kids safe and make sure sex offenders are prevented from preying on children and are prosecuted for their crimes.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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