Democrat Abigail Spanberger is emphasizing her life and career as she aims to become the next governor of Virginia at a time when her national party is searching for answers on how to win over voters after an election cycle filled with setbacks.
The Spanberger campaign’s new advertisement for the general election, first reported by CBS News, shows her reflecting on the various kinds of hallways she’s walked through, starting with her education at Virginia’s J.R. Tucker High School, before quickly pivoting to the CIA, where she was a case officer, and then to the Capitol, where she was a bipartisan-minded U.S. House representative.
“As governor, I’ll work to lower costs and make sure our schools prepare all our kids for jobs of the future,” Spanberger said in the advertisement.
According to the campaign, the advertisement is set to run in the Norfolk and Richmond markets along with digital platforms.
The messaging approach comes as Spanberger prepares to try and introduce herself to a wider range of voters with less than five months to go before this fall’s off year election. Before running for governor, Spanberger served three terms in Congress after unseating a Republican incumbent in the 2018 midterm elections.
Over the last 25 years, Virginia has shifted from backing Republicans in presidential elections to Democrats. That has not been the case in races for governor however, with the office shifting back and forth between the two major parties over the same period of time.
The state’s gubernatorial contests, which take place in the off year after presidential elections, have long been viewed as political bellwethers, with voters typically favoring a governor from the party opposite the president. That pattern has held in nearly every presidential election since 1980, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden. Most recently, Republican Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 victory was seen as an early warning sign for Democrats ahead of their midterm challenges.
Strategists from both parties see this year’s outcome as a test of the national mood — and of messaging on key issues ranging from abortion, crime and education to the economy and immigration.
Youngkin’s 2021 victory over then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe at a time when backlash against Democrats during the early days of the Biden administration appeared to energize Republican voters. Under Virginia law, a governor cannot serve for two consecutive terms, which has resulted in open races for the office without the advantage of incumbency.
Virginia GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to be Youngkin’s successor, is facing both a challenging national political climate in her attempt to keep the governor’s office under Republican control during the second Trump administration and a notable local dynamic. Republicans haven’t won two straight races for governor in the Commonwealth since George Allen and Jim Gilmore did so in the 1993 and 1997 elections.
“We are going to win this in November and make sure we keep common sense, conservative policies in the governor’s seat,” Earle-Sears said in a recent social media post. “Virginia is thriving, and I will continue to grow our long list of successes as governor.”
Regardless of who wins between the two in November, either Spanberger or Earle-Sears will make history as the Commonwealth’s first female governor.
Hunter Woodall is a political editorial producer for CBS News. He covered the 2020 New Hampshire primary for The Associated Press and has also worked as a Kansas statehouse reporter for The Kansas City Star and the Washington correspondent for Minnesota’s Star Tribune.
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