Days after Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears announced her bid for governor of Virginia — a contest that will take place next year but is already ramping up — House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, is throwing his support behind the only other declared candidate in the governor’s race, congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, D-Prince William.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears announces run for Virginia governor

Scott’s endorsement joins a growing list of over 100 current or former state, local or federal officials to back Spanberger. 

Scott, a lawyer and former U.S Navy officer, made history as the first Black Speaker elected in the 400-year history of Virginia’s General Assembly. Spanberger is a former Central Intelligence Agency case officer who was first elected to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District in 2018, the first woman to do so. Now, Scott hopes to see her become Virginia’s first woman governor. 

He recalled “getting to know [Spanberger] over the last few years” and their mutual support for each others’ efforts to connect with constituents and other elected officials across party lines around the state. 

“I think her number one quality is that she listens,” Scott said in a phone call Monday afternoon. “She has made an effort to serve every corner of our community and our Commonwealth.” 

Likewise, Spanberger noted Scott’s efforts to engage with people around the state too. 

“Speaker Scott is dedicated to uplifting his fellow Virginians — and his ability to work with both parties shows his commitment to getting things done for the Commonwealth,” she said in a statement.”I am truly grateful for his endorsement.” 

Both will be up for election next year, and should Democrats retain their control of the House of Delegates, Scott could continue in his role as Speaker.

Spanberger’s bipartisan efforts to bring infrastructure and broadband funding to the state and her support of congress’ Inflation Reduction Act earned Scott’s backing, he said. He noted their shared goals of increasing investments in public education and Spanberger’s support for three constitutional amendments that Virginia Democrats plan to kick start next year.

In 2025, Democrats plan to advance proposed amendments to Virginia’s constitution that will cement abortion protections, remove a same-sex marriage prohibition from the constitution, and enshrine the automatic restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people who have served their prison time. The measures will need to pass two years in a row with a House of Delegates election in between before appearing on statewide ballots for voters to approve or reject, meaning they are not subject to gubernatorial approval.

But that doesn’t mean Spanberger’s support won’t be important for their potential success, should she ascend to the governor’s chair, Scott said. 

“We’re going to win together [next November],” he said.”That’s because we’re going to continue to move Virginia forward and not take us backwards.”

Monday afternoon, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi held his weekly press conference to discuss this Saturday’s game against West Virginia. Here’s what he said about the Backyard Brawl versus the Mountaineers.

Thoughts on the Backyard Brawl

“Obviously a gigantic, a really, really big rivalry game here. There’s maybe not many more important rivalry games in the country. You guys can all talk about the River City Rivalry…we all know that’s not really a rivalry. This weekend, if you don’t know anything about rivalries, this is the one. This is the one that people in Pittsburgh live for. This is the one that people down south live for.”

Initial thoughts on West Virginia

“They got a heck of a football team. Neal Brown is a heck of a football coach. He’s calling the plays and schematically, he’s very similar to (Scott) Satterfield. I’ve got a ton of respect for him as a football coach, as a scheme guy. He does really good stuff. They will challenge you really in all three phases of the game. They’ll be multiple on defense running different fronts and coverages – none that we haven’t seen thus far. We may even see some three safety stuff, who knows?”

WVU’s offense

“Offensively, it all starts with their quarterback Garrett Greene. I think him and (CJ) Donaldson in the backfield with Jahiem (White) in the backfield as well, they like to run the ball, they’re going to throw RPOs. And I think they’ve got really talented receivers out there. They got deep ball guys, they got intermediate guys, they got guys that can make plays. We’ll see a bunch of RPOs, we’ll see deep balls, we’ll see it all.”

Teaching his players about the Backyard Brawl

“I think they know. I mean, 73 players on this team were on that trip last year or in that game. Probably got another 46 or 50 guys that were here in ’22 when we played them at home. But yeah, we’re going to educate them on the rivalry, what it is.”

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