Former PBS host and ex-Boeing engineer Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ will join former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to headline a rally with Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday in the hometown of their party’s forefather.
Spanberger will rally with Buttigieg and Nye in Charlottesville – the city that birthed President Thomas Jefferson – while across town at the college founded by America’s third president, GOP lieutenant gubernatorial candidate John Reid will headline a public ‘Dome Room’ forum hosted by pollster Larry Sabato’s University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Spanberger’s rally occurs as she tries to separate herself from scandal-plagued attorney general candidate Jay Jones.
Nye and Spanberger are expected to receive a welcome in the notable blue dot in the sea of rural Shenandoah Valley red that is Charlottesville.
Trump Winery and its Albemarle Estate lodging, managed by Eric Trump, lies on the opposite side of town, down the street from Monticello itself. The road that runs from Jefferson’s estate to Trump’s is regularly lined with dozens of large American flags abutting the estate’s property line.
That contrast will be evident Tuesday, as Spanberger enlists celebrities in hopes of propelling her to victory, while Reid, who has claimed to be pulling within neck-and-neck of Democrat Ghazala Hashmi, also seeks to engage with the public in the closing days.
While she has condemned Jones’ comments, Spanberger has continued to decline to call for him to drop out – while pivoting this week to attacking her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, on her pro-life views.
An ad released Monday criticized Earle-Sears’ support for a near-total abortion ban and in turn positioned Spanberger as the champion of individual rights.
Moving from medical science to engineering, Nye resurfaced this week clamoring against President Donald Trump at a ‘No Kings’ protest in his hometown of Washington, D.C., where he accused some in the MAGA faithful of being ‘Confederates.’
‘We are here to tell our lawmakers that what’s going on in our government is wrong. They must stop the abuses of this petulant president and his circle of sycophants… This president and his associates cannot tolerate dissent. To them, our free speech is frightening. They are arresting people and denying due process in courts,’ Nye said in part.
