CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) As early polling numbers show Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger with a commanding lead over her Republican counterpart, Winsome Earle-Sears, party officials said it’s far too soon for the candidate to rest on those laurels.

“As a candidate, you run like you’re in second place until the polls are closed,” Sen. Creigh Deeds said Friday. “You run with urgency every minute of every day between now and the election day in November and I expect that Abigail Spanberger will do exactly that.”

Deeds, Delegates Katrina Callsen and Amy Laufer and Charlottesville clerk of court Llezelle Dugger spoke Friday in front of City Hall, kicking off the Virginia Democratic Party’s “Worst of Winsome” Tour, a not-so-subtly named initiative to call out some of Earle-Sears more extreme political positions.

“Definitely events like this are making sure voters understand the importance of this election,” Laufer said. “We have three constitutional amendments that we’ve approved in the general assembly, and we need a governor that’s going to be supporting them.”

Polling numbers, including a Roanoke College survey done in mid-May, show Spanberger with a commanding lead over Earle-Sears, with the Roanoke poll giving her a 17-point edge statewide.

But Callsen said scoring a convincing Democratic victory in Virginia can have far-reaching benefits for the party.

“Virginia’s actually a bellwether state,” Callsen said. “So, how convincingly we win, because I do think we’re going to win, how convincingly we win in Virginia is going to impact how other Republicans in other states, what they think is going to happen in their states. And maybe they’ll move from that extreme and start being more moderate and listening to voters.”

The tour – which continues in Richmond on June 25 – allows Spanberger to focus on campaigning on her record and accomplishments, while surrogates hammer what the party feels are Earle-Sears more unpopular positions with voters. A spokesperson for Earle-Sears campaign did not respond to a request for a comment.

The tour kicked off with Friday’s event, during which speakers knocked what they said were Earle-Sears anti-reproductive rights and anti-marriage equality stances.

Dugger, who said she issued the first same-sex marriage license in Virginia when it became legal, called marriage equality “fundamental.” Dugger spoke about the five couples that were married that day, Oct. 6, 2014, and what that legal protection has meant for them and their partners and children.

It’s an issue Democrats believe will help them win in November, which is why it was the first topic focused on for the tour.

“I think the reason we’re beginning with that is, if you poll Virginians, you’ll find widespread support for marriage equality,” Callsen said. “And so the fact that Winsome has really dug into these issues that are not considered controversial in our state, is concerning.”

Three of the speakers referenced Earle-Sears’ handwritten note that she added when signing Virgina’s reproductive rights constitutional amendment last month.

Above her signature on the bill, Earle-Sears reportedly wrote, “I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child.”

It was one of the talking points the party officials hammered on Friday.

“We’re each saying it because it’s so unusual,” Laufer said during her remarks. “To say she’s morally opposed to this bill. She’s morally opposed to protecting reproductive healthcare for myself and all the other women in Virginia?”

Deeds noted that, even if Democrats control the state legislature, Earle-Sears could – if she were elected governor – block Constitutional amendments from appearing on the ballot in Virginia.

“Looking at Winsome Earle-Sears’ extreme record, it’s crystal clear that if she makes it to the governor’s mansion, she won’t fight for Virginians,” Deeds said during his speech as the day’s first speaker. “She’ll just push her extreme agenda forward.”