Back in 2017 and 2021, it was one of the most common questions the media asked Donald Trump: “Do you denounce [insert name of someone who was connected to either the Charlottesville riots or the Jan. 6 protest]?”

It is a version of a question that’s frequently asked of Republican officeholders, but it’s interesting to see how many of the same reporters have forgotten that line of questioning when it comes to Virginia’s Democrat candidate for governor, Abigail Spanberger.

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Even as recently as 2024, the question was laid at the feet of current Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. CNN’s Jake Tapper repeatedly asked Youngkin to denounce then-candidate Trump when Trump suggested that the National Guard should go after “the enemy within.”

So, one has to wonder, when is someone going to ask Spanberger “the question” regarding comments her staffers, supporters, and former fellow members of Congress made about the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk?

Spanberger’s own statement was that she was “horrified by the assassination” and was praying for Kirk’s family and the university community who witnessed the act. She also said, “Political violence has absolutely no place in this country. This violent criminal must be found and brought to justice.”

Fairly straightforward. However …

One of her earliest endorsements came from Chesterfield County School Board Chair Dorothy “Dot” Heffron, who said in an Instagram post, “Call me old fashioned, but I remember when we used to be okay with shooting Nazis.”

Heffron has announced her resignation from the school board, effective Dec. 31. Not exactly an immediate recusal, but it’s something.

Then came Jasmine Frye, whose Facebook account (before it was locked) listed her occupation as “Community Organizer” and that she “Works at Abigail Spanberger.”

Her post stated, “F around and find out. His entire brand was hate and violence; you attract what you preach. His last words were gang violence, trying to pen (sic) stuff on black ppl.”

Kirk’s last words were reportedly a clarification of an audience member’s question about mass shootings in the United States. He was delineating whether the numbers included gang violence or not.

The Spanberger campaign has not confirmed whether or how Frye is related to the campaign. So far, all we’ve heard is crickets.

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois donated $50,000 to Spanberger’s campaign and infamously blamed the president for Kirk’s assassination: “I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it [political violence].”

Spanberger’s opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, wrote on Facebook under a screen-capture of Heffron’s “Nazi” post, “Abigail, do you condemn this?”

If it has been acceptable for the media to ask Republicans such questions all these years—and often of people who are only tangentially connected to the candidate or officeholder—it seems that this is a legitimate question the media should be asking of Spanberger now.  

The post Media’s Double Standard: Why Won’t They Ask Spanberger About Supporters’ Violent Rhetoric? appeared first on The Daily Signal.