Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) is leaning closely into financial points in her marketing campaign for governor as Democrats search a successful blueprint going into subsequent yr’s midterm elections.
Spanberger has a bonus going into the off-year election, with most polls displaying her main Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl-Sears (R) by six to 12 factors.
As a centrist Democrat, Spanberger can be seen as a notable distinction to progressive candidate Zohran Mamdani in deep-blue New York Metropolis. The 2 races, together with the New Jersey gubernatorial race wherein Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) is operating, come amid questions over what Democratic candidates ought to prioritize as a part of a technique to win.
“I think every location is going to be different, right? I feel quite confident saying I’d probably never get elected in New York City, and it’s a good thing because I’m never going to run there,” Spanberger instructed The Hill throughout an unique sit-down dialog in Hampton, Va., when requested whether or not there’s sufficient room in Democratic Celebration tent for moderates like her and centrists like Mamdani.
“On a national landscape, my goal is to make sure that despite some of the chaos coming out of Washington, we have a governor who puts Virginia first,” she stated.
In her race for the Virginia governor’s mansion, Spanberger has stayed laser-focused on affordability, a problem that Republicans capitalized on in 2024 however proceed to battle with in 2025. She launched her “Affordable Virginia Plan” in June, highlighting her technique to decrease healthcare, prescription drug, housing, and power prices.
“I’m responding to the things that voters are asking me about on a daily basis,” she stated, referring to the housing and rental markets, power prices and well being care costs.
“It’s only going to get worse because of the so-called ‘one big, beautiful bill,’” Spanberger stated, referring to President Trump’s huge reconciliation invoice handed earlier this yr that may prolong tax cuts and phase-in cuts to Medicaid.
The commonwealth’s gubernatorial race has turn into a break up display of kinds, with Spanberger touting the economic system as her fundamental concern and Earle-Sears specializing in cultural points.
Whereas Earle-Sears has addressed financial points all through her marketing campaign, she has taken to attacking Spanberger over transgender points, particularly in regard to varsities. This week, the lieutenant governor’s marketing campaign rolled out an advert labeling Spanberger as being for “they/them” and supporting insurance policies that enable “men in girls locker rooms” and oldsters to be unaware when their youngsters search gender-affirming care. In one other advert, Earle-Sears accuses Spanberger of wanting “boys to play sports and share locker rooms with little girls.”
Polling exhibits financial points stay dominant in Virginia, mirroring nationwide traits. In keeping with a Christopher Newport College ballot launched earlier this month, 21 p.c of Virginia voters stated that inflation and the price of residing have been their prime concern, adopted by threats to democracy at 18 p.c and Ok-12 schooling, immigration, and crime every at 9 p.c.
And the technique seems to be paying off for Spanberger in head-to-head polling. Choice Desk HQ’s polling common exhibits Spanberger main Earle-Sears by seven factors.
Whereas what occurs in Washington has reverberations throughout the nation, Virginia is particularly impacted by selections out of the White Home and Capitol Hill. Virginia has been rocked this yr by huge layoffs to the federal authorities’s workforce as part of the Trump administration’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) cuts.
And along with the federal government shutdown deadline looming over Washington, the White Home has circulated a memo indicating that mass firings could possibly be on the desk if the federal government shuts down.
“Given the impact of the tariffs, the impact of DOGE, the impending impact of the so-called ‘one big, beautiful bill,’ I as a candidate for governor am focused on the fact that a government shutdown is just one additional element that will create and continue to create dire circumstances for so many Virginians,” Spanberger stated.
The Hill sat down with Spanberger previous to Trump’s assembly with Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) over the potential shutdown. The previous congresswoman insisted a shutdown have to be averted.
The negotiations come months after Schumer and a handful of Senate and Home Democrats confronted backlash for voting with Republicans to maintain the federal government open. Many Democrats, together with progressives, stated the transfer was spineless on Schumer’s half.
When requested whether or not Schumer and Jeffries ought to make a cope with Trump, Spanberger stated she “would like to see a president who actually wants to see the function of government occur.”
“The reality that the OMB director would use a government shutdown as a reason to fire additional federal workers after the assault on the federal workforce from the DOGE effort is just one more additional reason why I expect Republican leadership, I expect the president to work with Democratic leadership for everyone to actually come together, get a bill, get it voted on, get it to the president’s desk,” Spanberger stated.
Spanberger was additionally requested about a number of the Trump administration’s latest actions, together with the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and Federal Communications Fee Chair Brendan Carr’s suggestion that ABC or its associates ought to drop “Jimmy Kimmel Live” over the comic’s feedback concerning the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“Those are beyond politics,” Spanberger stated. “Those are attacks on our basic constitutional priorities, and I think everyone, regardless of party and regardless of party affiliation, should be denouncing them, and we certainly saw people across party spectrum, across ideological spectrum denouncing both of those issues.”
