Corey Stewart, a household name in Prince William County politics for 15 years, is pushing a new T.V. ad attacking Democrat Abigail Spanberger.
It’s the first time Stewart has made a public political statement after he stepped down from the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on December 31, 2019.
In the attack ad, Spanberger is tied to Elizabeth Guzman, a Virginia Delegate representing Prince William and Fauquier counties. She told WJLA-TV she would reintroduce failed legislation allowing social workers to investigate parents and potentially jail them if parents don’t affirm their child’s chosen gender identity.
After the story aired and fellow Virginia Democrats balked, Guzman said she won’t file the bill during the upcoming January 2023 legislative session.
Spanberger and other Virginia Congressional members Gerry Connolly (D-11, Fairfax) and Don Beyer (D-8, Arlington) co-sponsored H.R. 5 that aimed to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, adding “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to the text. The bill failed in committee in 2021.
Stewart tells PLN he’s in the process of raising $30,000 to get the ad on the air during the leadup to the November 8 General Election. Voters first elected Stewart to the Prince William Board of Supervisors in 2006. He made unsuccessful bids for Virginia Governor and U.S. Senate during his tenure.
Stewart told PLN he swore off local and state politics but decided to get involved in the federal election to support Vega.
The two-term Spanberger is running against Republican Yesli Vega, a Prince William County Supervisor, in what is now considered a toss-up race. In recent weeks, Vega has rallied voters alongside Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who won in November 2021 on a “parents matter” platform after his opponent, former governor Terry McAuliffe said parents shouldn’t have a say as to what instructors teach in public schools.
During Vega rallies on October 17 and 24, Youngkin and Virginia GOP Chairman Richard Anderson of Prince William County says this year’s election cycle feels similar to last year, as polls show momentum building for Republican congressional candidates across the country.
Youngkin was down in the polls until McAuliffe made the comments. Afterward, the Republican surged in the polls and became Virginia’s first GOP governor in 12 years.
Meanwhile, Stewart still resides in Prince William County. A layer by trade, Stewart now deals in land use cases and successfully argued before the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to approve 240 new apartments along Route 1 in Woodbridge.
We’ve asked the Spanberger campaign for a comment on this story and will update this post should we receive it.
