In what could be a preview of public debates on the campaign trail in Virginia’s race for the governorship this year, the leading candidates from both parties spoke with WTOP about the sweeping federal job cuts being carried out by President Donald Trump’s administration — and how they might affect Virginia.

“Everywhere I go, I hear about the impacts of these cuts to the federal workforce,” said former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the likely Democratic nominee in the governor’s race.

Spanberger claimed the cuts were being felt broadly across the economy.

“When your community is living in fear of losing their jobs, they’re not taking their family out to dinner,” Spanberger said. “I have heard from convenience store owners. I’ve heard from retail shops. I’ve heard from commercial property owners that they are continuing to see impacts in communities.”

On the other side, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears said Virginia’s economy remains strong and is capable of absorbing the layoffs.

“Whether you lose it because you work for the federal government, or whether you lost it because you worked for a private employer, or even whether you’re trying to come back into the job market because you took some time away, we’ve got jobs for you,” Earle-Sears said.

“Do not fret,” she added.

Though other Republicans have said they hoped to force a primary against Earle-Sears, the only two candidates to qualify for the ballot so far are Earle-Sears and Spanberger.

Earle-Sears has been endorsed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is term-limited.

She echoed Youngkin’s previous comments that Virginia has 250,000 open jobs and has plenty of resources available to help fired federal employees find new work opportunities.

“We’ve created job fairs to make that happen,” Earle-Sears said.

“I know what it’s like to lose a job,” she continued. “We don’t want anyone to lose a job, that’s not what we’re about.”

The federal cuts stem from the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a Trump administration team tasked with slashing federal spending.

Spanberger characterized the cuts as the White House “attacking” the federal workforce.

“I am always, always willing to have the conversation of, ‘What could we do better?’ ‘What could be more effective?’ But what we see coming out of this White House and what we see with this DOGE effort is an attack on federal service, attack on real people,” Spanberger said.

She accused Earle-Sears of being dismissive of people who’ve been laid off.

“My opponent is defending it and not standing up to it, and in doing so, isn’t demonstrating any leadership and standing up for Virginians, or for our economy,” Spanberger said.

Earle-Sears fired back.

“My opponent, of course, will try to do anything to destroy me,” Earle-Sears said. “It’s not going to work. We have the jobs available, and until you get that job, we have unemployment benefits that you deserve. Don’t worry.”

More than 300,000 federal employees live in Virginia, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.