CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – With the two candidates for governor in Virginia set to debate Thursday night in Norfolk, and the attorney general nominees face off in a debate in Richmond next week, only the two people running for lieutenant governor haven’t agreed to get on stage together.

Back in June, Republican nominee for lieutenant governor John Reid – a former conservative talk radio host – challenged his opponent, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, the democratic candidate, to an unprecedented series of 10 debates around the Commonwealth, including a stop in Charlottesville.

Hashmi, who holds a 9-point lead over Reid in the latest polling by Christopher Newport University’s Wasson Center, did not accept and the sides have not scheduled a single debate as the election draws nearer.

“I don’t blame her for not wanting to be on stage with me,” Reid told Cville Right Now last month. “But her own running mate, Abigail Spanberger, has told people, ‘Don’t ever vote for someone who won’t debate.’ And on that Abigail Spanberger and I agree.”

Cville Right Now asked Hashmi about the debate over debates when she visited Charlottesville in September to take part in a roundtable on public education.

“Until John Reid becomes serious about the positions that he holds, I’m waiting for some serious enunciations of his policies,” Hashmi said. “All I’ve heard so far is just personal attacks on me and ideas such as closing down public education. So, I ask him to spell out his policies so I would know exactly what it is he stands for. At this point, he doesn’t seem to stand for anything.”

Wednesday, Cville Right Now asked Hashmi’s campaign about the continued refusal to debate.
“John Reid wants a debate on debates to distract from the fact he wants to defund public education, plans to funnel Virginia taxpayer dollars into expensive private schools, and spreads lies about the Virginia health clinics that have already closed due to the cruel bill he supports,” said campaign spokesperson Ava Pitruzzello.

Reid pointed to his website and Reddit Substack as proof that his policy ideas are very public.

“Poor, poor Sen. Hashmi making up lies like that. I’m one of the few statewide candidates who has regularly position papers and ideas about solving Virginia problems,” Reid said. “They’re all on the website. There’s an entire Substack called ‘the Reid Revolution’ that articulates with great clarity these ideas. I turn down no media interviews. I do every media interview I can to talk about those ideas.”

Reid went on to question the logic of Hashmi turning down a chance to debate if she believes he has no positions.

“What is she saying? She doesn’t want to debate me because she thinks I’m not deep enough or she thinks I don’t have enough information to debate her?” Reid said. “If what she’s saying is true than I would think she’d want to be on stage with me and she could really impress everybody with how smart she is and how much she knows. The truth is she doesn’t want to go and debate me because she knows that I have opinions that more closely align with the beliefs of the voters in Virginia and she has proven herself to be the most radical member of the state senate. And Virginians don’t like the positions that she’s articulated.”

Reid took his attacks to X – formerly Twitter – Wednesday morning, attempting to link Hashmi to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a post that Republicans felt called out Hashmi’s refusal to discuss issues and debate Reid, while Democrats saw as borderline racist because of its reference to Hashmi and Mamdani’s religion.

“Just wondering has anyone bothered to ask Ghazala anything about her NYC twin’s socialist agenda and which parts she embraces and which parts she doesn’t? Is that not a fair question given their party affiliation, their radical ‘progressive’ alignment, and their religious connection?” Reid posted.

Hashmi’s campaign has focused on criticizing Reid’s positions on public education, where he supports the use of taxpayer money to support private schools through voucher or school choice programs, and his support of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Last election, in 2021, there was no debate between Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Hala Ayala. Earle-Sears won the election and is now the GOP nominee for governor.

In 2017, Democrat Justin Fairfax and Republican Jill Holtzman Vogel, their parties’ nominees for lieutenant governor, did debate, sharing a stage at the University of Richmond on Oct. 5 of that year.

Spanberger and Earle-Sears will meet Thursday night in Richmond for their lone debate of this election cycle.