FAIRFAX, Virginia — Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, pushed back against attacks from the state GOP linking her to Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s probable Democratic candidate for mayor.
“That’s a pretty ridiculous linkage, but I’ll say that I don’t begin to pretend like I know anything about New York politics,” Spanberger told reporters after a full day stumping in northern Virginia on Thursday. “Because I’m a Virginian and I’m focused on Virginia, and so I’ve been traveling across the commonwealth talking to voters about the issues that matter.”
Mamdani, a socialist, has divided Democrats over whether to embrace his come-from-behind campaign that trounced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo or distance themselves from his liberal ideology.
The Democratic nominee is opting for neither position and insists she’s more concerned about the issues Virginians care about. “I don’t know the Democratic nominee for mayor in New York,” she said.
Spanberger had just finished speaking to and greeting roughly 300 supporters, according to her campaign, outside the Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center in the sweltering Virginia heat. The appearance is part of a statewide bus tour Spanberger’s campaign launched this month.
The former congresswoman is running against Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to succeed the term-limited Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA). Whoever succeeds in November will become the commonwealth’s first female governor.
But that’s not the focus for either candidate. Spanberger is instead running on a platform of affordable housing, healthcare, and energy.
The off-year election in Virginia tends to be a political referendum on the sitting president and offers hints about what could follow in next year’s midterm elections.
Spanberger will likely perform well in heavily blue northern Virginia, part of which she represented before leaving Congress. But she will likely need to work to win voters in the southwestern part of Virginia.
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“I’ve had people on the ground working with community members, getting out door-knocking, having a presence in the community,” she responded when asked about how she would convince those voters to cast a ballot in her favor.
“I do want to make clear that I am going to try and win … every single vote in every corner of Virginia,” she added.