Democrats in Virginia seemed to be on top of the political world. In last November’s election, they won every statewide office and flipped 13 seats in the legislature, gains that surprised even optimistic Democrats. And they were hopeful they might flip as many as four seats in Congress this year after passing a resolution to redraw the state’s congressional map.
Standing to reap the benefits of a surge in Democratic power was Abigail Spanberger, the newly elected governor and the first woman to hold the office.
What a difference six months makes.
Democrats were waylaid on Friday by a Virginia Supreme Court decision striking down a new congressional map that had been narrowly approved last month by voters in a referendum.
And though the Democrats’ redistricting push began before Governor Spanberger was even elected, the court’s decision was nonetheless a blow to her, the leader of a party that was feeling bullish just a few weeks ago.
During her campaign, she was initially skeptical of the gerrymandering effort Democratic leaders were undertaking. But after their efforts cleared one hurdle after another, Ms. Spanberger offered public, if measured, support for the proposed map, which led to to criticism from the both sides of the political aisle.
“She is the leader of the party,” said L. Douglas Wilder, the Democratic governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. And the new map was her party’s priority, which gave her a big, if not necessarily welcome, stake in its fate.
In a statement on Friday, Ms. Spanberger said she was disappointed by the ruling. She added that her “focus as governor will be on ensuring that all voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard this November in the midterm elections because in those elections we — the voters — will have the final say.”
In the first few months of her term, Mr. Spanberger has found herself routinely buffeted by lawmakers on her left and right.
Her relationship with Democratic leaders in the General Assembly has been prickly. Some legislators have openly criticized the changes she has proposed to legislation, accusing her of hamstringing long-sought Democratic priorities.
After she sent lawmakers her suggested amendments to a variety of bills they had passed, the legislature just sent many of the original versions back, daring her to veto or sign as is. Some Democratic legislators have begun to refer to her derisively as “141,” as if she were an extra member of the General Assembly.
Republicans have had their own criticisms, faulting her for being too supportive of the Democratic agenda. In pursuing some Democratic goals, even those she campaigned on — like rejoining a multistate pact to cut carbon emissions — some Republicans have accused her of betraying her pledges to be a pragmatic, bipartisan leader.
“She’s got issues with her own Democrat caucus in both the House and the Senate; they do not seem to be reading from the same sheet of music,” said State Senator Glen Sturtevant, a Republican. “But at the end of the day, she’s the chief executive and the buck stops with her.”
Her declining polling numbers appear to reflect this growing discontent. Though Ms. Spanberger tried to draw attention to the nuts-and-bolts policies that she signed into law — like a minimum wage hike and an expansion of paid sick leave — these were overshadowed by the gerrymandering push, which spurred tens of millions of dollars in political advertising.
On the campaign trail, she said she had no plans to redraw the state’s congressional maps. When Democratic lawmakers introduced the redistricting amendment in the final days of the campaign, she said she was not opposed to keeping the state’s options open.
Once the amendment was put before voters, Ms. Spanberger urged people to vote for it, but she emphasized that it was only temporary and that the important thing was that people had a chance to weigh in. This more measured approach frustrated some of the more full-throated proponents of the redistricting effort, while doing little to endear her opponents.
“It’s not like taking the morally principled stance would have been without cost,” said Brian Cannon, a Democrat who helped lead a group opposing the redistricting amendment. “But it turned out the politically expedient way came with even steeper costs.”
Governors have had bumpy starts before and recovered. Ralph Northam, the last Democrat to hold the Virginia governor’s office, was all but written off early in his term when he was found to have been wearing blackface in a yearbook photo. By the third year of his term, in large part because of his handling of Covid, his public approval had recovered considerably.
A host of things are currently going wrong for Democrats in Virginia, including a federal raid this week on the office of a powerful state senator. Mr. Wilder, the former governor, says this moment could present an opportunity for Ms. Spanberger to put her party on the right track and redefine her still fresh tenure.
“Abigail’s got to be thinking, ‘What am I going to do for the rest of my term?” Mr. Wilder said.
Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting.
Campbell Robertson reports for The Times on Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
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