When Asked About Police ‘Murderers,’ Virginia Delegate Candidate Sponsler Lashes Out: ‘Enjoy Your Soulless Life’

Katie Sponsler

In a video revealed Monday, Democratic Virginia delegate candidate Katie Sponsler amplified her recently publicized comment about police violence with pointed words to someone filming and questioning her about it: “Enjoy your soulless life.” 

An audio recording that came to light last week showed the candidate for House District 66 saying of police, “There’s definitely some who are murderers.”

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John Fredericks Commentary: Analysis and Predictions for the GOP for Saturday’s Nominating Convention

American flag flying above a large crowd.

On Saturday, May 8, up to 53,000 Virginia Republicans who pre-registered as delegates will nominate candidates for state-wide offices in November, including governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

It’s been a long time coming.

The nominating process for Republicans, an unassembled convention with about 40 voting locations across the Commonwealth – open for voting from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM – is a convoluted and confusing affair that took months to negotiate and consummate after numerous marathon and agonizing Zoom calls by the Party’s State Central Committee.

It’s been a long time coming.  

The nominating process for Republicans, an unassembled convention with about 40 voting locations across the Commonwealth–open for voting from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM–is a convoluted and confusing affair that took months to negotiate and consummate after numerous marathon and agonizing Zoom calls by the Party’s State Central Committee. 

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In Debate, GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Discuss Amazon and Small Business

Six of the seven GOP gubernatorial candidates met for a debate hosted by the Virginia Federation of Republican Women on Tuesday evening. Candidates answered questions about Dominion voting machines, Second Amendment rights, transportation, and funding law enforcement. Organizers said Pete Snyder had a prior engagement.

Larry O’Connor asked the candidates, “Amazon is king right now in northern Virginia if you didn’t know any better. How will we expect small businesses to survive when government regulations that make it difficult for them are thrown out the window for literally the richest man in the world? How do you plan to protect key real estate in northern Virginia from being swallowed up by one company as well?”

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Virginia Republican Gubernatorial Candidates on Best Behavior at Liberty University Forum

The College Republicans of Liberty University hosted a forum for the Republican candidates for Governor of Virginia. Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), State Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield), Colonel Sergio De La Pena, Glenn Youngkin, and Peter Doran participated in the forum that was held at Thomas Road Baptist Church. The candidates were well prepared and measured as the 100+ person plus room listened intently. 

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Virginia GOP Gubernatorial Candidates in Mad Scramble for Delegates in Wide Open Race

The Republican Party of Virginia announced Friday that the filing deadline had passed for the 2021 Republican Party of Virginia unassembled convention, creating a scramble for the wide open Governor’s race. The unassembled convention is scheduled for Saturday, May 8th, with over 30 polling locations across the Commonwealth of Virginia. According to the Republican Party of Virginia, all but two announced candidates for Governor filed for and paid their filing fee.

The following candidates have properly filed with the Republican Party of Virginia and will appear on the Republican Party of Virginia 2021 Statewide unassembled convention ballot.

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Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates Attack Their GOP Counterparts

Four Democratic candidates for governor blasted their GOP counterparts in a joint statement Thursday.

“Last week, the entire Republican field took their complete embrace of Donald Trump a step beyond the far right extremism that has become the norm in the Virginia GOP,” wrote candidates Jennifer Carroll Foy, Delegate Lee Carter (D-Manassas), Terry McAuliffe, and Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond.)

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Gubernatorial Candidate Youngkin Announces Plan for an Election Integrity Task Force

Citing a need to restore trust in elections, gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin announced an Election Integrity Task Force on Monday.

“This is not a Democrat issue or a Republican issue, it’s a democracy issue,” Youngkin said in a press release. “Both parties have long raised concerns, and we must restore Americans’ faith in the integrity of our elections.”

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Gubernatorial Candidate Cox Rolls Out Big Tech Accountability Plan

Gubernatorial candidate Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) announced a plan Wednesday to hold Big Tech accountable for protecting free speech. The plan expands regulation and enforcement with transparency requirements, bans on de-platforming elected officials, and $100,000-per-day fines for violating tech companies.

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Running Out of Options, Virginia GOP State Central Committee Might Choose 2021 Party Nominees

  The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) is headed towards the State Central Committee (SCC) selecting the GOP 2021 nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. A majority of the party has voted repeatedly for an in-person convention, which is illegal under current COVID-19 executive orders. A minority of…

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Former Trump Official Sergio de la Peña Joins Virginia Gubernatorial Race

Former Trump official Sergio de la Peña announced Monday that he’s entering the race to be the Republican nominee for Virginia governor. de la Peña served 30 years in the Army, where he reached the rank of colonel. He also served as Trump’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and he says that experience will set him apart from the suddenly crowded field of GOP gubernatorial candidates.

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Former Trump Official Sergio de la Peña Joins Virginia Gubernatorial Race

Former Trump official Sergio de la Peña announced Monday that he’s entering the race to be the Republican nominee for Virginia governor. de la Peña served 30 years in the Army, where he reached the rank of colonel. He also served as Trump’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and he says that experience will set him apart from the suddenly crowded field of GOP gubernatorial candidates.

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Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase on D.C. Rally: ‘It Was Very Heartwarming’

State Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) was present at the Washington, D.C. rally on Wednesday morning, and she told The Virginia Star that it was a historic day after historic voter fraud.

“It was very heartwarming,” Chase said. “The people that were there, they were good people. They were patriots, they love their country, they were there to peacefully show support. They weren’t there for destructive purposes at all.”

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Virginia Politicians Split on Objecting to Biden Electors

Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said in a Tuesday press call that legislators who challenge electoral results are undermining Americans’ faith in democracy, but three of Virginia’s Republican congressmen support a challenge, and two have committed to vote to challenge the results.

Warner said, “We’ve got what traditionally has been a pro-forma event happening tomorrow, January 6, where the House and the Senate meet in tandem to basically count the certified electoral votes.”

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Virginia Politicians Split on Objecting to Biden Electors

Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said in a Tuesday press call that legislators who challenge electoral results are undermining Americans’ faith in democracy, but three of Virginia’s Republican congressmen support a challenge, and two have committed to vote to challenge the results.

Warner said, “We’ve got what traditionally has been a pro-forma event happening tomorrow, January 6, where the House and the Senate meet in tandem to basically count the certified electoral votes.”

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Some Virginia Newsmakers Share Their New Year’s Resolutions

A New Year, a new General Assembly session, a new state election, a new vaccine — The Virginia Star is looking forward to the stories of 2021. We asked a few newsmakers what their resolutions for 2021 are. Here’s what they said:

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Delegate Cox Still Calling for Cash for Virginia Families Affected by Virtual Learning

President Trump issued an executive order on Monday allowing states to use COVID-19 funds to be provided as emergency learning scholarships for students who don’t have access to in-person learning. The funds are directed at families, not schools, and can also be used by homeschooling students. Gubernatorial candidate Delegate Kirk Cox’s staff (R-Colonial Heights) said the program is similar to one that he introduced in the General Assembly.

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Richmond Mom Accessed Explicit Content on School-Issued Virtual Learning Computer

Richmond Public Schools (RPS) has tightened content filtering restrictions on school computers after Janet Kelly discovered she could access explicit YouTube content on her elementary-aged son’s computer. Kelly is pleased that the school responded to her concerns, but she’s worried about long-term harms linked to having children in front of computers constantly for virtual learning.

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Chase Caves on Convention for Virginia GOP Nomination

Six days after the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) decided to hold a nominating convention instead of a primary, gubernatorial candidate State Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) finally declared that she would run in the convention, and not as an independent.

“My team and I have received thousands of communications across the Commonwealth this past week asking me to continue to run as the next Republican Governor of Virginia,” Chase said on Facebook on Friday.

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Virginia Governor Watch 2021: Updates on Cox, Hanger, and Carter

It’s been just a little more than ones month since the 2020 general election, but Virginia’s gubernatorial campaigns are in full swing, with old scandals surfacing for Democrats and a new war over the nomination process brewing in the Republican Party.

But that’s not enough gubernatorial news for one week – so here is some more…

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Injunction Filed Against Democratic State Legislators for Shutting Out Public from General Assembly

State Senator Bill DeSteph (R-Virginia Beach) and attorney Tim Anderson filed a petition for injunction against Democratic legislators to preserve constituents’ in-person access to General Assembly members. State Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton), Chair of Senate Rules, and Speaker Eileen Filler Corn (D-Fairfax) decided to close the Pocahontas building to the public, which hosts office appointments for both the House of Delegates and State Senate.

“The closure of the legislative office building to the public is contrary to the explicit historical purpose of the building to allow the public access to its elected legislative members, especially during the General Assembly Session,” read the lawsuit. “Most importantly, the right to assemble and address lawmakers at the state and federal levels is fundamentally protected by the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution: a. ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.'”

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Republican Party of Virginia Chooses Convention for 2021 Nominations

It was a “Motion from hell,” Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) Chair Richard Anderson said during the hours-long discussion of the RPV’s nomination method for 2021. 

Eventually, the RPV State Central Committee voted in favor of holding a convention instead of a primary to nominate the party’s 2021 Virginia candidates.

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The Republican Party of Virginia Faces a Day of Reckoning

The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) State Central Committee (SCC) will hold a virtual meeting on Saturday to determine whether a convention or a primary will be used to nominate their candidates for 2021. The decision is strategically important for candidates and power brokers, so rumors of intrigue surround preparations for the meeting.

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Politics at the Thanksgiving Table: Legislators on Holiday

Virginia’s legislators recently completed a long special session, and are preparing for the regular session in January. Additionally, Virginia’s state elections are just a year away, so many of them are launching campaigns for office.  The Virginia Star asked several legislators how they’re escaping the stress this Thanksgiving.

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Republican Delegate Kirk Cox Launches His Candiacy for Virginia Governor

Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) announced his candidacy for Virginia governor on Tuesday. He has 30 years of experience as a Virginia delegate, including a stint as Speaker of the House.  He thinks his brand of conservatism and results is what Virginia is looking for.

“I do think I have a record,” Cox said, “but I also feel like we need to bring back civility and respect.”

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Amid a Crowded Field, Democrat Terry McAuliffe Moves to Run for Governor Again in 2021

Former Governor Terry McAuliffe filed paperwork to run for governor in 2021, joining field of four other Democrats and another four Republicans who have filed or declared serious interest in running in the 2021 primary.

Strategist and Democratic political pundit Ben Tribbett told The Virginia Star that filing to run is not the same as an official declaration as Virginia does not allow exploratory committees.

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