Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) was viewed as a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial race.
But with her party in disarray following a GOP sweep in the 2024 general election, Spanberger’s candidacy is facing more questions.
While Spanberger has faced little competition from within her own party so far, fellow Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) is considering throwing himself into the race. He said a few weeks ago that he hadn’t “ruled it out.”
“Usually people running statewide take about a three-month leave and I’m not ready to do that, but we’ll see. I haven’t ruled it out,” Scott said in an interview with Punchbowl News, which also reported that Democrats think Scott may be able to attract voters of color better than Spanberger, which may be critical against likely GOP nominee Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) is ineligible to run.
Earle-Sears wants to attract the same diverse coalition that President-elect Donald Trump did in the 2024 election, and she appears to plan to do so while painting the centrist Spanberger as a radical leftist.
“Congresswoman Spanberger desperately wants Virginians to believe she’s a bipartisan, moderate Democrat, but her voting record proves otherwise,” David Abrams, a senior adviser to Earle-Sears, told the Washington Post. “She was complicit in enacting the Biden Administration’s destructive agenda that left people paying more and getting less, communities suffering from a wave of violent crime, and families ripped apart by an epidemic of fentanyl overdoses — all that, and more, will be tough to answer for on the campaign trail.”
Nevertheless, Spanberger has solid support from Democrats in the state’s Democratic primary.
“I can’t speak for the country but in Virginia, I think we are yearning for her,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) told the outlet. “She’s always been about finding middle ground and getting things done.”
“There are gonna be more progressive people that would rather have an AOC-type person here,” he added, “but I don’t think that’s where Virginia is.”
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As things stand, it’s likely going to be Spanberger against Earle-Sears in the 2025 race. A September poll showed the two are tied in their pursuit of the governor’s mansion.
However, any challenges to Spanberger from further to her left are sure to showcase the Democratic Party’s differences in coming to terms with how they lost in November and how they plan to move forward.