Fact check | Does Winsome Earle-Sears know the difference between UVA, Virginia Tech?

My Dem friends on the socials are roasting Winsome Earle-Sears for supposedly mixing up Virginia Tech and UVA in a clip from her remarks at the groundbreaking for a new biopharmaceutical facility in Albemarle County on Monday.

My take on this: meh.

I’m not inclined to give Earle-Sears the benefit of the doubt on a lot – her campaign’s TV commercials are rife with blatant lies – but on this one, I dunno.

Here’s the clip:

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WATCH: @winwithwinsome mixes up @virginia_tech with @UVA.

Brutal… pic.twitter.com/ebQOWXALoD

— Team Spanberger (@TeamSpanberger) September 29, 2025

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“We have to talk about institutions that are helping. We’re talking about Tech. By the way, I saw the game this past Friday. Go ‘Hoos!” Earle-Sears said.

Keep in mind, she’s talking in Charlottesville here.

The groundbreaking involves Afton Scientific, which is about to begin construction on a new 285,000-square-foot facility to house its pharmaceutical manufacturing operations – the company specializes in injectable medications.

I’ve long not been a fan of politicians being at these groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings to take credit for something they’ve had nothing to do with, and to be clear how bipartisan I’ve been on not liking that, my first run-in with a pol over this was with Mark Warner, way back when he was governor, in the early ‘aughts.

I mean, I get it, that the business suits like having the pols there with them, because it makes them feel more important, but still.

Glenn Youngkin does these kinds of things because he thinks he’s going to run for president again in 2028, which, fat chance of him gaining any traction there.

Winsome Earle-Sears, for her part, was on the stage as lieutenant governor, but she was really there to use the backdrop to boost her flailing campaign for governor – she’s going to lose to the Democratic nominee, Abigail Spanberger, by double-digits.

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If I’m Abigail Spanberger, who in addition to being the Democratic nominee for governor, and the odds-on favorite to win, and win big, is a UVA alum, I’d be torqued over not getting an invite to be on the stage with them.

Perhaps that’s why her campaign is highlighting this “gaffe” that isn’t on the part of Earle-Sears at the Afton Scientific groundbreaking.

I really want this to have been a gaffe, but I just can’t.

It was awkward, certainly, but what happened here was, Earle-Sears was trying to kiss the asses of both fan bases, which is what pols are wont to do.

For an example there, the aforementioned Mark Warner, who twisted the arm of John Casteen to leverage Virginia Tech into the ACC back in 2003.

If we think Virginia Tech fans are pissed at Winsome Earle-Sears supposedly mixing up Tech Football and UVA Football, I know for a fact that there’s a decently sized group of UVA fans who will never forgive Mark Warner for getting Tech into the ACC.