A vote in the Virginia State Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 28, created theatrics on the Senate floor. Senators voted on a bill that would guarantee a woman's right to contraceptives, but it ended up turning into something much bigger.
Senate Democrats trapped Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears into a tie-breaking vote. Sears is really the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination in Virginia's upcoming governor's race and abortion will likely be an important issue on the campaign trail.
When democrats saw the opportunity to get Sears' opinion on the record when it comes to contraception, they trapped her in.
Generally this was seen as a pro-choice bill, especially by the pro-life side of things. Generally the democrats were supporting this bill, the republicans were not," ABC13's Political Analyst, Dave Richards, said.
Democrats have the majority in the Senate, 21 to 19. One Republican senator was absent during the vote, leaving just 18 Republicans.
"The vote at the end of the day, one of the democrats abstained, one voted against, and so the vote was then 19-19, tied. That meant that the Lieutenant Governor had to come in and cast the tie-breaking vote," Richards said.
Sears voted against the bill, ultimately putting her 'no' vote on the record for women's contraception access.
This was all sort of political at the end of the day, the bill, if it does get through the house, is going to be vetoed by Youngkin. It was really setting the stage for what's probably going to be a really bruising governor's race between Winsome Sears and probably Abigail Spanberger. Certainly, the democrats see the pro-choice movement, or the abortion issue as something they can fight on. They fought on it last time in 2023, during those legislative elections, and they seemed to have gotten some mileage out of it," Richards said.
Richards said it was a political stunt, but it worked. He told ABC13 that we can expect more theatrics in the coming months.
"They laid a trap and she couldn't resist. I mean, what was she gonna do? Vote for something that she's pretty clearly against," Richards asked. "That's why it was kind of a cheap trick, but it's politics, and politics can get dirty."
After Sears' vote, the bill failed, but Senate rules allow for any member who votes against a bill to call for a re-vote. The democrat who initially voted 'no,' called it back, and the bill ended up passing 21 to 18.
Richards said the bill is an easy veto once it hits Governor Glenn Youngkin's desk, but moves like this show just how hard democrats are willing to work to try and turn the Governor's seat blue.
It's more of a signal than an actual gotcha moment. It's a signal that the democrats are going to fight pretty hard in this election coming up. For republicans and for Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, it's probably a wake up call that they're going to have to fight back pretty hard as well," Richards said.