'Enjoy your soulless life:' House candidate reacts to question about 'murderers' comment
State GOP tweets video where Democrat Katie Sponsler lashes out after someone asks her about previous comments about bad police behavior. She answers the question, then shows emotion over query.
Bill Atkinson
COLONIAL HEIGHTS — The Democratic candidate for the 66th House of Delegates' seat fired back at someone who asked her a question Saturday about her comment that some police officers are "murderers" by telling that person they had a "soulless life."
The 30-second video of Katie Sponsler's comment was tweeted out Monday by the Virginia House GOP. It drew a swift response from state Republican chairman Rich Anderson that there also are murderers among what he called "Left extremists" who clashed with police during last year's protests over the police officer-involved deaths of George Floyd and others.
In the video taken as Sponsler and some supporters were assembling campaign signs in Colonial Heights, an unidentified young man is heard asking Sponsler, "Why do you think police officers are murderers?" That referred to a recording from a July 22 Sponsler campaign stop in Chesterfield County in which she said that while she has many friends who are good cops, there are "definitely some who are murderers" and she would "call them out in a minute." Her Republican opponent, Mike Cherry, immediately seized on the remarks, linking Sponsler to the groups that have called for police defunding.
Sponsler answered that some officers "have been prosecuted, tried and convicted of murder, and we have to acknowledge that because ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away." The most notable of those was Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted earlier this year in Floyd's death.
Sponsler, a Air Force veteran and former National Park Service ranger trained in law enforcement, said she cares about police officers in general and specifically many with whom she has served.
"The best thing we can do for them is increase our community support," she said
After that, Sponsler — who told The Progress-Index last week that the Cherry campaign "intentionally misinterpreted" her comments — let her emotions show.
"Thank you so much for trying to make a dramatic issue out of a stated fact, and I hope whoever works for you pays you well," she tells the questioner. Then before she walks away, she tells the questioner, "Enjoy your soulless life."
A message has been left with the Sponsler campaign seeking comment on the video.
On Monday, spokespeople for both the Cherry campaign and the House GOP denied sending the person to make the video.
"Certainly not a House person," the House GOP's Garren Shipley said in an email to The Progress-Index.
Anderson, the state GOP chairman, replied to the tweet by saying there were also murderers in the "thousands of Left Extremists who burned Govt buildings, police stations, and businesses during last year’s Insurrectionist Summer."
He concluded his reply with, "Stay strong, patriots. We will not retreat a single inch. America is worth it."
A message seeking comment from the state GOP about the questioner has not yet been answered.
Veteran journalist Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is the regional daily news coach for the USA TODAY Network Southeast Region's Unified Central group, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and portions of North Carolina. He is based at The Progress-Index in Petersburg, Virginia. Contact Bill at batkinson@progress-index.com, and follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.