Abigail Spanberger, the first-term governor of Virginia, is set to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address of his second term. Spanberger has positioned herself as antithetical to Trump’s policies and last year flipped Virginia’s highest state office by double digits.
“On Tuesday, I look forward to joining Virginians in this historic place to lay out the next chapter of our story — a clear vision for a stronger, safer, and more affordable future for every American who calls our nation home,” Spanberger said in a statement announcing her speech. In response, Trump called her a “Radical Left lunatic” and derided the policy positions that won her office.
Spanberger made headlines last year when she became the first woman governor of the state, part of a wave of Democratic electoral wins. She focused her campaign on affordability and education, leaning on her law enforcement background and identity as a mother to appeal to voters.
Before running for governor, Spanberger served three terms representing Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives, part of a wave of women who won office in 2018. She was one of a group of Democratic women who ran on national security backgrounds and won; she formerly worked for the CIA. She flipped the seat after her frustration with incumbent Rep. Dave Brat’s vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act motivated her to run for office.
Spanberger was elected following term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She won against then-Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who centered her campaign on trans-exclusionary policies, mimicking the Trump administration’s “protecting women” language.
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Youngkin leaned into the language of “parental rights” to fan panic over transgender students in public schools. Spanberger’s education policies throughout her campaign instead focused on addressing Virginia’s teacher shortage, boosting learning outcomes and physically repairing school buildings.
She also zeroed in on the failures of Trump’s year in office. She was endorsed by the largest union of federal workers, the members of which saw potentially illegal mass firings and layoffs in the first few months of the Trump administration. She spoke against Trump’s trade war: “Virginians are already being squeezed by high prices — and these reckless tariffs are doing nothing to make life more affordable,” she said last August.
On her first day in office, Spanberger signed executive orders overturning a directive for state law enforcement to prioritize cooperation with federal immigration authorities, establishing a nondiscrimination policy in state government and initiating several commissions to assess possible affordability measures.
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She has pledged to raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2028 and further ordered the end to state partnerships with federal immigration enforcement.
Democratic counterprogramming is in full force on Tuesday before, during and after Trump’s speech. Sen. Alex Padilla of California will deliver a Democratic response in Spanish. He was thrown to the floor, handcuffed and forcibly removed from a Los Angeles event where Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking last June.
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