Abigail Spanberger pulls out of Va.'s 7th Congressional District debate against Yesli Vega

TRIANGLE, Va. (7News) — There may be no debate before the Nov. 8 election between Democrat Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and her Republican opponent Yesli Vega.

Virginia’s 7th congressional district is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the United States.

7News requested an interview with Rep. Spanberger to learn why she pulled out of the only scheduled debate with her Republican opponent. Spanberger refused to do an interview.

Instead, a Spanberger spokesperson sent 7News a statement.

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“Due to the Vega campaign's pressure to corrupt the Prince William Committee of 100’s efforts and stall the debate into nonexistence, with just five days to go before the scheduled debate, it became increasingly clear a debate was never going to become a reality,” a Spanberger spokesperson said Monday via email. “Ever since the Republican nominee was declared, Rep. Spanberger has been crystal clear in her efforts to join a debate with her opponent to discuss the issues that matter most to Virginians. The same cannot be said for her opponent, Yesli Vega, who declined a traditional debate in Fredericksburg with a nonpartisan moderator. Additionally, Vega has pulled out of multiple nonpartisan forums, including with local chapters of the NAACP and other local committees.”

Vega said Spanberger backed out of the debate because of comments made by Democratic lawmaker Elizabeth Guzman last Thursday.

“She doesn't want to have to answer for her surrogate’s extreme positions on jailing parents if they refuse to affirm their child's gender identity,” said Vega. “I find this to be extremely troubling because the voters in the seventh district have every right to know where their candidate stands on a very important issue. As you know, this was a very important issue last November and it continues to be a very important issue. I think it's also important to highlight how my opponent already voted against requiring parental consent before schools can start talking to your children about gender identity or sexual orientation. So she's running away from this issue because she doesn't want to be on the record having to answer.”

In an interview with 7News, Guzman discussed a bill she said she wanted to introduce in the upcoming legislative session in Richmond.

“What could the penalties be if the investigation concludes that a parent is not affirming of their LGBTQ child? What could the consequences be?” 7News Reporter Nick Minock asked Guzman on Thursday as Guzman discussed the implementation of the bill she said she wanted to introduce.

READ MORE | Abigail Spanberger, Yesli Vega take the gloves off in Virginia's competitive House race

“Well, we first have to complete an investigation and before we make the determination that there is going to be a CPS charge, depending on the type of abuse, and this is for all abuse, not just LGBTQ, it could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor, but we know that CPS charge could harm your employment, could harm your education,” Guzman answered. “Because many people have those – they do a CPS database search before offering employment.”

Before Guzman’s interview with 7News, Guzman’s legislation was previously discussed on a podcast called “OUT. What NOW?”

“I’ve been working with a Senator, no a representative in a small district that I’m not a resident of,” Amy Cannava said on the OUT. What Now? podcast with Megs Pulvermacher. “And she is a former social worker and has her clinical degree and recognized the abuse and long-term harm of not affirming your kids. So we are working on a child protection bill that would make it illegal to not affirm.”

Del. Guzman is a social worker.

After 7News’s interview with Guzman, the podcast is no longer available and now there is no longer a scheduled debate in Virginia’s 7th congressional district.

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“On Friday, less than 24 hours after news broke that a top Spanberger surrogate proposed legislation that would jail parents for not conforming to liberal woke culture, Abigail Spanberger issued a press release filled with false objections to a debate her campaign had already agreed to,” a Vega press release said on Sunday.

“Again, it exposes my opponent for the extremist that she is and how she refuses to face the music and she refuses to give a solid answer,” Vega told 7News on Monday. “Where are you, Abigail? Parents deserve to know where you stand on this issue.”

Guzman campaigned with Spanberger two days before Guzman's comments on the legislation she said she wanted to introduce.

“It's not just the Guzman debacle, it's everything,” added Vega. “How do you defend such a horrible voting record? She has voted with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time. What is she going to say to the voters in the seventh district? She has no excuses. And I think that that's the real reason why she refuses to show up on Friday.”

Nearly 24 hours after 7News’s interview with Guzman, Guzman said the story was “misleading” without providing details about what was misleading.

“I think she's backtracking because she knows how damning her proposed legislation is,” Vega said. “And the fact that she is now saying the quiet parts out loud, I thank her for once. She's actually honest and being transparent and letting voters know exactly how extreme and radical she is. And how extreme and radical my opponent is who refuses to denounce her endorsement and her support. If Abigail disagrees with her, why doesn't she say so? Why does she refuse to speak to members of the media after that interview?”

A Spanberger spokesperson answered 7News on Monday with where Spanberger stands on the legislation Guzman articulated in a 7News interview.

“I don’t support this legislation, and it does not have a path forward in the General Assembly,” Spanberger said in a written statement sent via email. “It’s unclear how this proposed legislation intends to actually help transgender children and their families, which is what we should focus on.”

On Monday, Spanberger’s campaign spokesperson blamed Vega’s campaign for Spanberger not participating in Friday’s debate.

“In a last-ditch effort to spare the utter embarrassment of pulling out of a debate traditionally attended by Republican candidates, the Vega campaign corrupted the Prince William Committee of 100’s proposed event,” a Spanberger campaign spokesperson told 7News by email on Monday. “She did so on multiple occasions, at first, by threatening to withdraw without WJLA’s help drafting and moderating the questions and forcing an in-studio event — which the nonpartisan committee rightly refused. However, she then worked a last-ditch effort to install a hyper-partisan to co-moderate the debate.”

“We thank the Prince William Committee of 100's and the League of Women Voters for their efforts to create a debate when the Vega campaign so clearly put hurdles up at each pass; we encourage you to review the Prince William Committee of 100’s public meeting minutes for more information,” a Spanberger spokesperson emailed 7News on Monday.

7News Reporter Minock asked Spanberger’s campaign on Monday, “if it was clear the debate was never going to become a reality, why did Rep. Spanberger promote the debate on her Twitter account?”

“It became clear just in the last several days – after the Committee attempted to install Larry O’Connor one week before the debate and then didn’t have a moderator confirmed five days before the debate – that the debate was never going to become a reality,” a Spanberger spokesperson responded via email on Monday. “When we discussed the debate on Twitter on 10/6, we were still working with the Committee in earnest to lock in the event and were optimistic that the details would be finalized soon. Rep. Spanberger was acting in good faith to have people “mark their calendars,” as this potential event was fast-approaching.”

Vega did not agree to participate in an earlier potential debate in Fredericksburg.

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On Monday, 7News asked Vega why she didn’t agree to participate in an earlier debate.

Vega said it was because she wanted a televised debate between her and Spanberger.

“The voters in the seventh district should be able to see and hear what both of us have to offer, where we stand when it comes to policy, where we stand when it comes to the failures of this administration, and who has enabled it and I wanted this debate to be televised and she refused,” Vega said. “You know, she wants to do zoom debates all day long. But she doesn't want a live audience. She doesn't want the voters of the seventh district to see, for themselves, how extreme she really is. So that's the reason why we did not agree to the Fredericksburg debate because we wanted it to be live and to be transmitted on television.”

“That’s false,” a Spanberger campaign spokesperson told 7News via email on Monday. “Our campaign agreed for the earlier debate to be televised, but unfortunately Yesli Vega thought that she wouldn’t be able to control every aspect of this traditional, community-focused debate that Republicans had participated in during previous campaign cycles.”

“Additionally, Rep. Spanberger’s campaign let the Committee know of our concerns regarding the moderator, as well as safety and ticketing concerns, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week,” a Spanberger spokesperson told 7News on Monday via email. “It wasn’t until Sunday that Rep. Spanberger’s campaign indicated there wasn’t a path forward – with just five days to go until the potential event was set to take place.”

Vega is campaigning with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin on Monday evening where Youngkin is expected to discuss the Guzman legislation.

Later this week, Youngkin is expected to campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake in Arizona.

Lake is running against Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs who is also not agreeing to participate in a debate, as Vega points out.

“Do you want to say it's a reoccurring trend?” Vega said. “They see the polling. They've been trying to run their races on one issue and one issue only and that just shows how tone-deaf they really are with the needs and the concerns of the voters in the district. And so we've been talking about the issues that matter to the voters. My opponent has not. And we're going to continue to talk to voters about the issues that matter to them because these are the issues that are negatively impacting everybody's quality of life, but we're ready, we're talking about proposed solutions and exactly what we're going to do on day one when we get to Washington.”

Nationally known conservatives like U.S. Senator Ted Cruz have raised concerns about Guzman’s legislation.

The legislation has also drawn ire from Republicans in Virginia, including Gov. Youngkin, Attorney General Jason Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears.

Democratic Virginia Delegate Don Scott reportedly said Guzman’s proposal would be “dead on arrival.”

Republican Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert pledged to send Guzman’s bill to the floor for a vote.

On Sunday, Robert Rigby, who has been an LGBTQ advocate for decades in Fairfax County, expressed disappointment in the Democratic leadership’s response to Guzman’s proposed legislation.

Rigby called Guzman a “lifesaver.”

“I think that many people across the spectrum are mean to anybody who stands up and supports queer kids,” Rigby told 7News on Monday. “I want people to pass policies and regulations and legislation that support queer kids.”