Virginia just elected a new governor, and while the campaign rhetoric was heavy on moderation and reassurance, the early signals out of Richmond tell a very different story. What we are seeing now should concern every Virginian — Republican, independent, and even Democrats who believed they were voting for balance rather than ideology.
The policy direction already being floated, and in some cases implemented, by Democrats in Richmond looks strikingly familiar to anyone who has watched states including New York (where I was born and raised in upstate), California, or Illinois over the past decade: higher taxes, expanded government, less safety, gross partisanship, and an open hostility to the families and businesses that actually fuel economic growth. The lesson from those states is clear: When taxes go up and regulation tightens, or public safety erodes, people vote with their feet.
Virginia has spent years building a reputation as a business-friendly, opportunity-rich state, especially spearheaded by former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. That progress is now at risk. Tax hikes on “the wealthy” won’t stop there — they’ll slam small businesses, middle-class families, and fixed-income retirees. Recent proposals would expand the sales tax to a wide array of everyday services: gym memberships, hair and nail care, pet grooming, dry cleaning, home and vehicle repairs, landscaping, residential cleaning, streaming services, deliveries from Amazon or Uber Eats, and more. As NFIB warns, these would drive up costs for consumers, pile on paperwork and compliance burdens for small businesses operating on thin margins, and increase the overall cost of living, working, and doing business — even as Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger talks about improving affordability amid a state budget surplus.
Employers will leave, and workers will follow. We already know where they will go. States such as Georgia, Florida (my home state, where my family fled from New York precisely for lower taxes, safer streets, and better opportunities), South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina have made a conscious choice to keep taxes low, regulations reasonable, prioritize safety, and put growth central to their governing philosophy. They are winning because they understand a basic truth: government should work for the people, not the other way around. Virginians will treat the state just like New Yorkers treated theirs, by leaving and heading even further South.
What makes this moment particularly troubling is how it came to pass. Virginians were sold a candidate who branded herself as a pragmatic, moderate Democrat. But the early insights into what a Spanberger administration will look like suggest that image was more campaign tactic than governing reality — a classic case of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Further evidence of this is her Day One action to rescind Youngkin’s Executive Order 47, followed by a February executive directive ordering state law enforcement agencies, including Virginia State Police, Department of Corrections, Conservation Police, and Marine Police, to terminate all 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those efforts were aimed at protecting Virginians from the challenge of illegal immigration and holding criminals accountable, including child predators, murderers, and career criminals, who have already been taken off our streets in the last year. By ending this cooperation, the administration risks turning Virginia into a de facto sanctuary jurisdiction, prioritizing fringe ideology over public safety.
Not to mention the aggressive moves targeting the Virginia Military Institute, one of Virginia’s most storied and respected institutions. On her inauguration day, Spanberger appointed new members to VMI’s Board of Visitors — including former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, the third-term abortion advocate — reshaping its governance overnight. Democratic lawmakers have since introduced measures that threaten to strip state funding, question VMI’s status as a public institution, or fundamentally alter its independence — moves that could jeopardize its historic role in producing military leaders. These actions have drawn immediate and forceful pushback from the Trump administration, with the Department of War vowing to take “extraordinary measures” to protect VMI’s integrity, citing direct implications for national security and military readiness.
Add to that the commonwealth’s plan to eviscerate GOP representation by overhauling the congressional map in a state that surged for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election — turning Virginia’s electoral map into something resembling sapphire-blue New England, rather than the more moderate Mid-Atlantic region. This aggressive push is just the latest sign of how far she’s willing to go. In Washington, she was a backbencher, not a leader. Now, as governor, she appears poised to become something else entirely: a pawn for the fringe elements of her party who are eager to use Virginia as the next testing ground for their left-wing agenda — an agenda that has already failed elsewhere, yet Democrats continue to stand firm, indifferent to the economic damage left behind.
EDITORIAL: SPANBERGER’S CALIFORNICATION OF VIRGINIA
Dismiss it as alarmism if you like, but history shows these patterns don’t lie. New Yorkers and Californians were told that higher taxes and progressive policies would solve their problems. Instead, they got shrinking opportunity, soaring costs, declining safety, and a mass exodus. Virginians were promised moderation. They are now staring down the barrel of ideological governance.
Every Virginian should be concerned — not next year, not at the next election, but now. A warning for Virginians: Staying silent or settling for watered-down progressivism on the campaign trail could spell real damage for our state. The push to redraw congressional maps, tilt representation, undermine institutions such as VMI, impose new tax burdens, and retreat from immigration enforcement risks turning Virginia into the California of the Mid-Atlantic. When you vote on the redistricting amendment this spring — and on your Assembly and Senate representatives — remember: her victory wasn’t a blank check for extremism. Virginia is for Lovers, not liberal activism.
Harrison Fields is a former White House spokesman and senior vice president at the CGCN Group.