Abigail Spanberger will be inaugurated on Saturday as Virginia’s 75th governor, the first woman to hold an office once occupied by Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and James Monroe. It’s a historic moment for the commonwealth.
The former congresswoman and CIA officer has a golden opportunity as a Democrat elected on a moderate platform in a purple state to model mature leadership for a childish political culture. Her mandate is for competent governance, not radical change.
Spanberger has demonstrated that she understands the dangers of lurching too far to the left. She flipped a red district in 2018. After Democrats lost House seats in 2020 despite winning the presidency, she blamed radicalsfor making the party’s brand toxic with swing voters. “We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again,” she said. “We lost good members because of that.” She also correctly criticized President Joe Biden for overreaching. “Nobody elected him to be FDR,” she said in 2021.
In November, Democrats picked up 13 seats in the House of Delegates and now hold a 64-36 majority, thanks to a mix of anti-Trump backlash and a savvy campaign operation quarterbacked by Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax). But Democrats have just one vote to spare in the state Senate.
Outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) did not maintain high approval ratings through most of his term by embracing radical policies. He put into practice Spanberger’s advice to Biden: He was perceived by most people as a normal guy who wouldn’t cause chaos. That’s especially attractive when Virginians see what’s happening across the Potomac.
Early signs are mixed. On the positive side, Spanberger has said she would not sign a repeal of Virginia’s right-to-work law. No worker should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment, and Virginia’s law has been on the books since 1947. Virginia is also one of the few places that does not allow state employees to collectively bargain. Spanberger should appreciate that she, as the elected governor, controls the state bureaucracy, rather than having union contracts tie her hands.
Spanberger has also said she supports several of Youngkin’s popular and successful workforce training and education programs. She seems to have learned a lesson former governor Terry McAuliffe learned the hard way by supporting transparency and parental involvement in public education. She said she would direct her Education Department to implement the Virginia Literacy Act, passed in 2022 to require reading instruction based on the latest science. Similar reading reforms in Mississippi have greatly improved literacy. Spanberger’s pick for state superintendent helped shape that 2022 law.
On the negative side, her early proposals to address affordability, the buzzword of the moment, mostly involve government mandates that would at best subsidize some people at the expense of others and at worst drive up costs generally. Her embrace of a $15 minimum wage and project-labor agreements for infrastructure projects would drive up costs for most Virginians and exclude capable workers from employment opportunities. Virginia’s unemployment rate is roughly one point below the country’s and lower than in any neighboring state.
An area where Spanberger could make a real difference is modernizing Virginia’s tax code. The top marginal rate currently kicks in at just $17,000 of income, as the brackets have not been adjusted for inflation in decades. The sales tax base has eroded, as it has not been updated to include more modern goods and services. Broadening the base while lowering the rate would be a concrete win for affordability and the state’s fiscal health. Senate Democrats have signaled their interest in reform.
Because Virginia’s Constitution bars governors from seeking reelection, they too often start thinking too soon about their next jobs. Spanberger might harbor national ambitions, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Her name will be in the mix as a potential vice-presidential pick in 2028. But the best way for the 46-year-old to set herself up for future success is to focus diligently on keeping Virginia a great place to live and do business.
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