By Luke Broadwater

More than 50 members are leaving Congress this year, but only one held a key position with the House Democratic leadership: Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, a former C.I.A. officer who is departing to run for governor of Virginia at a time when anger over dysfunction in the House is at a high.

Ms. Spanberger, who hails from a politically competitive slice of her state, is the leadership’s emissary for battleground-district House Democrats across the country. In that role, she has taken on the sometimes lonely task of trying to beat back efforts to pull her party further to the left.

She refused to vote for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, criticized aspects of President Biden’s policy agenda and faced pushback from leaders in her own party for her attempt to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

During her three terms in Congress, Ms. Spanberger, 45, often focused on local issues, such as bringing broadband internet to rural communities and improving Virginia’s infrastructure, earning a ranking as one of the most bipartisan members of the House.

In an interview with The New York Times, she reflected on her time in the House, and what it means that the country re-elected former President Donald J. Trump.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: In some ways it feels like 2024 is an end of an era in the House. You were part of a group of women with national security experience who all came in as part of the anti-Trump blue wave of 2018. Elaine Luria is no longer in the House. Elissa Slotkin is moving to the Senate. You and Mikie Sherrill, of New Jersey, are running for governor. What impact do you think you had?

A: The entirety of the 2018 class had a pretty significant impact. When we arrived in such large numbers, so many of us who had flipped our seats — so many new, vibrant voices who had replaced retiring members — it was a little bit like the cavalry had arrived. We flipped the House. We arrived during the longest government shutdown in history. And so we were just heavily focused on the urgency of that moment.

It is bittersweet to recognize that, of the national security women, Luria is no longer in Congress. But [Representative Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania] is staying in Congress, Slotkin’s in the Senate, and hopefully Mikie will be serving New Jerseyans as governor.

It’s important that there be a turnover of voices. It’s important that there be people who bring their best sense of urgency. It’s exciting what comes next.

Q: As a representative from a battleground district, how was your experience different from most members of Congress?

A: One of the real benefits of representing such a tossup district is I always have someone who is mad at me, and sometimes they’re Democrats, and sometimes they’re Republicans, and sometimes they’re not politically affiliated. Sometimes they voted for me, sometimes they didn’t. I say that it’s a benefit because it means I always needed to look at challenges or problems from all sides. And so even when I know without a shadow of a doubt how I’m going to vote on something or a policy that I’m going to advocate for, I have to endeavor to understand why someone would be opposed to it, because I will, without question, have to defend that vote to somebody.

Q: What was the worst part about being a member of Congress?

A: The worst part is the chaos. The worst part is the inability to keep a calendar, the inability to do the most essential things, the fact we have to talk about, “Will they, won’t they shut down the government?” every single time. Virginia is the most impacted state when there’s a government shutdown. My constituents are not only impacted in a shutdown, they’re impacted when we even talk about a shutdown. What seems like a procedural drama here on Capitol Hill is a worry around the dinner table back home in my community. The last minute gamesmanship is the worst, because it I’ve seen firsthand how it just creates so much worry in the people I represent.

The fiscal year always ends in September, and so the fact that it’s always September, and people are like, “Oh my gosh, we needed to finish appropriations!” — I will never, never be able to mentally understand how it is that people seem surprised every year when September is coming to an end.

Q: If you could change one thing to improve how Congress functions, what would it be?

A: My goodness. Well, there isn’t just one thing, but there was a bipartisan committee for the modernization of Congress that existed in the 116th and the 117th Congresses. They speak about things as simple as making sure that the calendar makes sense.

They made a recommendation that members of Congress, instead of sitting up on the dais the way that we do with Democrats on one side and Republicans on one side, that it become Democrats and Republicans intermingled. They put forth a recommendation as well that the Speakers Lobby — and you may not like this one — but that it be closed to press so that members can actually sit out there and talk to each other.

And, of course, I am always the person in favor of ethics reform. That’s why I worked on the bill to ban members of Congress from buying or selling or trading stocks, because I think that it’s an important element of affirmatively saying to the American people, “When I’m here on Capitol Hill, I’m here working for you and that’s it.”

Q: What are your thoughts on the outcome of the election?

A: I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have all of the answers here. From a House perspective, and certainly as someone who has won tough races to the House, I think we did see some challenges. One of the takeaway lessons for me is that Democrats need to remind voters that our policies are good for jobs, they’re good for wages, they’re good for the futures of our kids. And I think recognizing that it’s still a time of uncertainty, and people will ascribe the source of that uncertainty to different things.

Many people have been heartbroken by the results of the election. Some people will need to take a little bit of space. But ultimately, we’ve got to keep doing the work.

Q: House Democrats did gain some seats. But what do you make of voters deciding pretty overwhelmingly that after four years of President Biden’s leadership, they want President Trump back?

A: If you talk to 10 voters, you’ll hear 10 different things. I think some people really don’t remember the first Trump term. The Covid years did a hard drive erase on some of our memories.

Because there’s no singular explanation, there’s also no one takeaway for me. I’m, of course, deeply disappointed. As someone who served in Congress when Trump was in the White House, I remember how chaotic it was. I remember literally sitting in the Situation Room and being part of a bipartisan group — I think we were six and six, Democrats and Republicans — begging the president of the United States to understand that the longest government shutdown in history was hurting people and hurting the economy and hurting the function of government, and wasting federal dollars. I remember the freneticism of certain things, like, when members of Congress would literally check Twitter to see what the president was saying.

We’re heading into a time of a chaotic nature, because that is what president-elect Trump has proven he brings to his leadership style. So I’m really focused on, how do we react to that? Now there’s really an opportunity, once again, for people to step up and demonstrate what reasonable leadership looks like, how we can work through policy to bring people together, to improve people’s lives. In any position of leadership, if it’s local, state or federal level, we can focus on not dividing people, but focus on ensuring that we’re providing a sense of security in this moment where I think we will see some chaos and some upheaval.

Q: Should President Biden have gotten out of the race earlier?

A: Coulda, woulda, shoulda. I mean, my honest answer is, I think many people thought he was a bridge to the future, and that bridge was four years. Had he made an announcement that he was going to be just that four-year bridge back in 2022, I do think absolutely things could have been different.

I don’t know that would have 100 percent changed the outcome. If there had been a really aggressive primary on the Democratic side of the aisle, would that have changed the tenor and tone of the Republican primary? I think that, given the landscape, it was clear that Trump was going to come through that primary. But if everything had been different, maybe there would have been a different Republican nominee, a different Democrat. Maybe that would have made the general election of 2024 just an entirely different thing.

But I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback, because I will say that given the elements that presented themselves — we had a July change of candidate — it’s hard to run a race in 100 and something days. I think the vice president did an extraordinary job in creating and running a race in 100 and something days. And I think there are many lessons to be learned, but I’m attempting to apply them as I plan for 2025.