Spanberger defends abortion ad criticizing Sears after Bernie warns against highlighting issue

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger on Friday defended her new ad targeting Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears' opposition to abortion, despite Sen. Bernie Sanders recently warning former Vice President Kamala Harris that focusing on the issue could hurt her chances.

In Harris' new book, "107 Days," she wrote that Sanders warned her: "please focus on the working class, not just on abortion," and that he told her he supported then-President Joe Biden because he focused on economic issues.

Harris went on to lose all seven swing states and return the White House to President Donald Trump.

Spanberger's ad begins with a clip from an Earle-Sears rally while a narrator calls her a "MAGA Republican," and said: she wants a "near-total ban" on abortion.

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"So far right, she's wrong for Virginia," the narrator later concludes.

A spokesperson for Spanberger - a former Democratic congresswoman representing the Rappahannock Valley - told Fox News Digital it is still important that Virginians know where Earle-Sears stands on abortion, when asked about Sanders' warning to Harris.

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"As we approach the first Virginia gubernatorial election since the fall of Roe v. Wade … Winsome Earle-Sears supports an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest," Spanberger's spokesperson said.

"The Republican nominee in this race has called abortion "wicked" and just this year handwrote a note on Virginia's proposed constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights in Virginia making clear that she is 'morally opposed'."

As lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears presides over the Virginia Senate and is required to sign bills passed by the chamber.

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When the Senate successfully passed a resolution from state Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-McLean, that would amend the Virginia Constitution to provide a "fundamental right to reproductive freedom" if the 2026 chamber passes identical legislation, Earle-Sears inscribed her own objection:

"I am morally opposed to this bill. No protection for the child," she hand-wrote, which is allowed under Senate policy.

Earle-Sears did not respond to a request for comment, but told the Winchester Star during her 2021 run for lieutenant governor that abortion should be illegal in most cases, excluding life-of-the-mother concerns.

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Spanberger said her stance constitutes "doubling down on her long record of opposing reproductive rights."

In that same Winchester Star interview, Earle-Sears pivoted to the economy as Sanders had advised Harris -- lambasting "unnecessarily aggressive shutdowns that have been sanctioned by this hypocritical [Northam] administration" at the time.

The GOP nominee, a Frederick County business owner, said her company and others like it have endured economic "assaults on hardworking Virginians."

Earle-Sears has instead focused on a different social issue than abortion - the continuing prevalence of transgender ideology in some Virginia school districts and counties, including the once-deep-red Prince William plus Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

The issue was front-and-center in 2021, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin was credited with successfully harnessing public outrage in otherwise Democratic areas to narrow the margins enough - combined with running up the score in rural, conservative Southside Virginia - to upset Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe.