BREAKING: Watchdog Seeks Investigation into Illegal Electioneering and Campaign Finance Violations by Dems Spanberger, Hashmi, & Jones

Nov 04, 2025
Victoria Manning
Election Integrity

The Liberty Justice Center's letter was sparked by a Restoration News investigation revealing a Democrat political rally at a taxpayer-funded school.

The Liberty Justice Center (LJC), a public interest watchdog, submitted formal letters to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney requesting an investigation into the potential misuse of public assets and campaign finance violations by key Democrats running for election in 2025. (Read the press release below.)

Restoration News was the first to report last week on a political rally by Democrats Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi, and Jay Jones at I.C. Norcom High School held during school hours. Our investigation revealed the district provided taxpayer-funded school facilities for free and even recruited teachers to attend the event during working hours. One Portsmouth school employee, Shauneille Perry-Wallace, went so far as endorsing Spanberger's governor campaign at the event.

“The Portsmouth School District should use its facilities and teachers to educate students, not provide free resources and crowds to a partisan political campaign,” said Brendan Philbin, senior counsel at LJC. "The Portsmouth residents deserve to have their tax dollars spent on education, not handouts to gubernatorial candidates. What the District administrators did is unconstitutional, and very likely, criminal.”

LJC calls for two investigations. The first seeks information on whether the Spanberger campaign violated election laws by failing to report the use of the school and school personnel as a required in-kind donation. The second calls for a criminal investigation into whether the Portsmouth school district misused public assets—"namely school facilities, staff time, and taxpayer-funded labor," a potential felony in Virginia.

Other candidates at the rally included Chesapeake Sheriff, Dave Rosado and at least three Democrat House of Delegate candidates including Nadarius Clark (HD-84), Bonita Anthony (HD-92), and Rodney Nickens (HD-90). Two Virginia Beach Democrat school board members, Matt Cummings and Melinda Rogers, were also in attendance.

(READ OUR ORIGINAL REPORT: School District Used Taxpayer Resources to Promote Dem Spanberger During Work Hours)

More Details Emerge About the Political Rally

While the Spanberger campaign was coordinating the event, it appears State Sen. Louise Lucas (D) was also involved behind the scenes. The principal, Teesha Sanders, emailed teachers on Aug. 6 that "Senator Lucas is hosting an education event and is requesting teachers to attend. The event is in our library. If you can attend, please do so and bring a few colleagues." This appeared to be a directive for teachers and not an optional event.

The Spanberger campaign further emailed Ms. Sanders to ask if she was able to recruit teachers to attend. Sanders replied on Aug 6, "So far I have 20 teachers. How many would you like?"

Another email from the school's chief operations officer, Dr. Jerry Simmons, directed staff to assist with set-up for the event. They were told to "work with our lawn care service to ensure the grounds are manicured for the day, with shrubs trimmed, mulch down, grass cut, etc. Please secure 50 folding chairs . . . . Thank you in advance for overseeing this event."

The emails strongly suggest multiple government staffers and employees were involved in coordinating and helping with the partisan political rally.

New photos obtained by Restoration News show at least one Portsmouth school board member, vice-chair LaKeesha Atkinson, attended the Democrat rally.

Portsmouth School Board policy prohibits employees from using their position to "further a political cause."  Employees are also prohibited from:

  • Engaging "in any activity supporting or opposing a candidate or political party while on duty, while on school property during school hours, or while representing the school division," or
  • Using "any school division property to engage in any activity supporting or opposing a candidate for public office or a political party."

Sen. Louise Lucas used her speaking time to attack Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, and push her leftist agenda.

Princess Moss, vice-president of the National Education Association (NEA) teachers' union,  touted the left-wing union's endorsement of Spanberger, Hashmi, Jones, and other Democrats.

About four hours after the high school event on August 8, Attorney General candidate Jay Jones posted a campaign video on social media at 4pm. The evidence strongly suggests that Jones' video was filmed at the school.

Emails obtained exclusively by Restoration News show the Spanberger campaign had requested "one additional room where we can film content before and after the event." The campaign also asked, "If we were to use the multimedia room would it be very loud if there are folks in the library space?"

Restoration News reached out to the Jones campaign to inquire if the video was filmed at the school, but we didn't receive a response. If it was, should that have been an in-kind donation reported by the Jones campaign?

In the FOIA documents obtained by Restoration News, school administrators told us that the Spanberger event was "closed to the public." Yet our investigation reveals it was publicly promoted by the Spanberger campaign with a sign-up link on her website encouraging the public to "come hear the details" of her education policies.

The Liberty Justice Center has "requested written confirmation from the Attorney General and the Commonwealth’s Attorney that investigations have been initiated by mid-November."

This is a developing story and new details are expected to emerge.

(MORE VIRGINIA: Abigail Spanberger's View of Abortion is Sick and Gruesome)

Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse to her reporting.

Email Victoria HERE

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