By Adam Longo

WAHINGTON (7News) — Virginia Representative Abigail Spanberger rode a wave of Democratic Party enthusiasm to office when she was first elected to public office in 2018, defeating Republican incumbent Dave Brat in a central Virginia district that, at the time, included the Richmond suburbs and a rural swath of counties west of Interstate 95.

The midway point of the Donald Trump presidency was marked by a thirty-five-day government shutdown that began Dec. 22, 2018, and continued after members of the 116th Congress were sworn into office.

“On my second week of work, I was in the Situation Room with a bipartisan group of members talking to then-President Trump about what we need to do to move forward and open back up the government,” said Rep Spanberger during a recent interview with 7News. “At that time, we were in the longest government shutdown in American history (35 days). It was a partial shutdown, but it was highly impactful and deeply painful for the community members, small businesses and certainly federal employees and contractors who were impacted.”

Spanberger, who has announced, plans to run for governor of Virginia in 2025 spoke to 7News to both reflect on her six years serving Virginia on Capitol Hill and to look forward to the issues that are likely to define her gubernatorial campaign.

“It’s been an interesting experience being here on Capitol Hill,” Spanberger said. “Really digging in deep on how do you actually engage in productive passage of legislation. I think most people would agree it is not always a functional legislative body, but there is a way to be highly, highly productive.”

A recent Georgetown University School of Public Policy study ranked Rep. Spanberger among the most bipartisan members of Congress. On the final day of the 2024 Senate session, a bipartisan bill she authored along with Rep Garret Graves (R-LA) passed overwhelmingly, allowed full social security benefits to be collected by more than two million employees who worked in the public sector and who collect public pensions.

She’s quick to point out her intent in Congress was to pass legislation rather than just talk about legislation.

“I think there’s been some members who have come to Congress who don’t necessarily want to govern or make decisions.,” she said. “I think that if you’re going to come here to be part of a governing body, it needs to be with a focus on actually governing.”

Spanberger began her time in Congress serving under a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives but then in 2022, the House flipped back to a Republican majority. While the most recent Congress did not pass the volume of legislation of the preceding Congress, what would Spanberger consider to be a successful tenure in Congress?

“In terms of my measures of effectiveness, I wanted to be accountable,” said Spanberger. “I wanted to be engaged with my constituents. I wanted to answer to them whether they were happy with me or displeased with the vote I might have taken along the way.”

“I’ve brought more than $40 million back home to our district in projects for roads and for water projects and for law enforcement resources,” she replied while recounting a few highlights of her six years in office. “I have written and passed laws signed into law by a Republican president and a Democratic president on issues that are both of national importance. Supporting those who are struggling with addiction, combating the fentanyl crisis.”

The 2025 Virginia Governor’s race is shaping up to be a race that could elevate a woman to the Commonwealth’s highest office for the first time in history. Lt. Gov Winsome Earle-Sears appears to be the front-runner on the Republican side. The contest is historically viewed as a referendum on the newly-elected President and their popularity, but that’s not an assessment Spanbereger agrees with.

“If the national media wants to opine and cherry-pick and choose to perceive things through that national lens that’s their choice,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I’m running for Governor to serve Virginians and to serve the Commonwealth that I love. And so my focus and my responsibility is to run a race focused on Virginia.”

Spanberger predicts that housing affordability and education will be among the issues that will define the campaign.

“My ultimate approach is going to be trying to fix the things that aren’t working,” she said. “We can do better in our public education system, there are things that we should focus on improving. There are regulations and red tape and challenges that at times, can hinder people from starting a business or growing a business, or choosing to move to a particular location, or building the housing supply that we need in Virginia, you know, or being able to strengthen our educational system to the level that as a Virginian and as a mom with kids in public schools, I think that our kids deserve.”

As a former intelligence officer with the CIA, Spanberger is offering some perspective on at least one of President-Elect Trump’s nominees. She is offering sharp reservations about Trump’s selection of former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.

“DNI is the position where perhaps not very well known to most Americans, is the position that has oversight over the entirety of the American intelligence community. And it’s a role where someone has to be laser-focused on facts and evidence and questioning the intelligence that comes in. Working directly with the folks who are gathering it across intelligence agencies to make sure that the President is getting the best, most vetted information that will ensure that he can make good, informed decisions about issues of national security,” Spanberger said. “There are many people who I think would have much, much stronger qualifications. Importantly, this is not about the President. This is not about politics. I would never expect that I would agree with all of his nominations. But this is one that I think is particularly really dangerous at this moment in time.”