Virginia’s one of the few states that holds its state and local elections in odd numbered years, so most candidates go out of their way to put on positive events that can garner attention and hopefully remind voters that they’re on the ballot. But after the first joint appearance for the GOP’s three statewide candidates this year, personality conflicts definitely took center stage instead of any discussion of what their vision for Virginia.

The GOP’s three statewide candidates in Virginia this year just held their first joint event and all the coverage seems to be focused on how gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears and lieutenant governor nominee John Reid can’t stand each other. Earle-Sears refused to even mention Reid in her speech.

Of course, this is far from the first time there’s been questions about the ticket’s unity. Gov. Youngkin was one of the earliest Republicans to launch attacks against Reid because he’s gay. He even went as far as to call on Reid to resign from the Republican ticket after an account Reid claims isn’t his re-posted some photos of nude men. The fact that Youngkin made the move without actually investigating the account and then backtracked rather quickly truly suggests there’s some uncomfortable among Republican leadership with having a gay man on the ticket.

Given her long history of spewing all sorts of bigotry towards the LGBTQ community, Earle-Sears seems to have carried on Youngkin’s disdain for the queer community and having to share the stage with Reid.

“Earle-Sears, however, has remained largely silent and did not engage with Reid on Tuesday. Her only public comment has been: “We all have our own race to run,’” Brandon Jarvis reported for Virginia Scope. “Earle-Sears has expressed moral opposition to homosexuality. She included a statement to that effect in a bill she was required to sign in her role as lieutenant governor presiding over the state Senate.”

There were also reports that the two candidates didn’t speak for eight weeks, despite the fact that there was no statewide GOP primary and the nominees could have helped motivate their base by doing joint events while Democratic activists still were backing their individual choices for Lt Governor and Attorney General. Refusing to even hold a simple conversation could have cost the GOP ticket some momentum as they’re trying to overcome the negative backlash against the Trump Administration’s disastrous first few months in office.

In other words, folks would be right to have some questions about whether or not Earle-Sears would be willing to make a good faith effort to work with Reid if they both won their races this November. I certainly do think she would.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know you don’t have to be best friends in order to work together. I’ve definitely had some colleagues over the years who I thought were amazing to work with even if I had absolutely no interest in spending time with them outside of work. And I’ve actually worked with friends who I wasn’t exactly eager to do have as a partner for work related projects. But in every case, we figured out how to work together in a manner that honored the skills we each brought to the table.

With the tension between Earle-Sears and Reid so palpable that it’s all people are writing about after the event, however, you have to wonder if that working relationship is salvageable. I just can’t help but wonder how they’ll be able to actually govern if they can’t even show some unity during a joint campaign.

Meanwhile, the statewide Democratic ticket just finished up the “Span Virginia” bus tour that included stops spanning all across the Commonwealth. And instead of having a focus on the personality conflicts we see on Republican side, their events have focused on bringing Virginia together while working on making the economy more affordable for everyone, ensuring Virginians have access to healthcare, and lowering housing and utility costs.

While you never know how accurate polling is this early in an off year election since many people haven’t been paying attention yet, all of this likely plays a huge role in why Abigail Spanberger has a double digit lead in recent polling.