At Three Events in Henrico & Fairfax, Spanberger Shared Her Plans to Lower Virginians’ Costs, Protect Virginians’ Jobs, and Make Sure Virginia Schools Are the Best in America
WUSA9: Concerns Over Virginia’s Economy “Driving Support for Spanberger”
RICHMOND, Va. — Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger — running to serve as the next Governor of Virginia — yesterday cast her ballot in this year’s elections and joined Virginians at three early voting locations in Henrico and Fairfax to hear directly from voters about their top concerns — particularly high costs and the Trump Administration’s attacks on Virginia’s workforce and economy.
Friday marked the first day of early voting in Virginia. During her stops, Spanberger highlighted the stakes of this year’s election and her continued focus on putting Virginia families first. She also laid out her plans — her Affordable Virginia Plan, Growing Virginia Plan, and Strengthening Virginia Schools Plan — to lower costs for Virginia families, grow Virginia’s economy, and make sure the Commonwealth’s schools are the best in America.
While Spanberger drove home her focus on standing up for Virginia jobs alongside hundreds of Virginians throughout the day, her opponent Winsome Earle-Sears stood alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, “one of the original ‘DOGE’ leaders.”
WHAT VIRGINIANS ARE SEEING
FOX5 [Washington, D.C.]: Spanberger meets voters in Fairfax, discusses plan to lower costs
Spanberger launched her campaign push today in Fairfax County, highlighting what she calls her record of working across the aisle.
Spanberger: “I’ve yet to meet a Republican who says that they’re opposed to my priorities related to removing red tape when it comes to being able to increase housing supply, when it comes to ensuring that Virginia is actually generating more energy here at home, that’s not an area of disagreement. When we talk about the fact that when you go to the pharmacy and prescription drugs are just too high. That is an area that at least we agree on the problem. So now let’s set about finding a solution.”
WUSA9 [Washington, D.C.]: Concerns over Virginia’s economy driving support for Spanberger
The economy is also driving support for Spanberger. This election will show whether Trump’s policies, including federal workforce cuts, are motivating voters. Supporters say Spanberger represents the change they want from Trump-aligned leaders like Youngkin and Earle-Sears.
Virginia Voter: “One of her pillars of her campaign is making Virginia more affordable, and you know, with federal workers losing their jobs with the tariffs cranking up prices, that’s something that could affect every Virginian.”
Virginia Voter: “I don’t like what Trump is doing and if you support Trump, you’re supporting his agenda. And I just can’t live that way anymore.”
NBC4 [Washington, D.C.]: Spanberger calls out opponent for backing Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce
Voters began casting ballots today in three statewide races, but the national spotlight is on the top of the ticket. Democrat Abigail Spanberger is facing off against Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. Spanberger hosted an event today at the Fairfax County Government Center. Earle-Sears held a rally at the Keystone Acres Farm in Chesterfield, Virginia, just outside Richmond.
Spanberger: “People want a Governor who will stand up for Virginians, a Governor with plans to make impacts on the biggest challenges we are facing.”
CBS6 [Richmond]: Spanberger focuses on lowering energy, housing costs in pitch to Virginia voters
“A few hours after the polls opened in Henrico some of the statewide candidates showed up to make their pitch to voters, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.”
Spanberger: “As we see energy prices continue to rise, as rents and the cost of buying a house continue to go up significantly, we know that Virginians want a Governor who’s being responsive to those issues.”
CBS News: Voting kicks off in Virginia governor’s race — as Trump policies take center-stage
Spanberger cast her vote Friday morning at a polling station in West Henrico, near the capital of Richmond. Speaking to CBS News afterwards, the former congresswoman said her campaign is focusing on the issues impacting the day-to-day lives of Virginians.
“Whether it’s because you just saw your rent go up, or you think you might want to buy your first house, or you’re trying to pick up your prescription at the pharmacy for your kid, for your parents, for yourself, issues of affordability continue to be top of mind for people across Virginia,” Spanberger told CBS News.
Washington Post: As voting starts in Virginia, a tense scene turns chummy between candidates
[T]he crowd began cheering and chanting “Ab-i-gail! Ab-i-gail!” as Spanberger arrived and made her way to the front of her sign-waving supporters. She hugged, she waved, she bent to speak to a young girl, then went and stood in line to vote.
Afterward, Spanberger took questions from reporters before a line of TV cameras. She kept her message upbeat, mentioning President Donald Trump only to note that he had signed some of her legislation.
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Spanberger, Reid cross paths in Henrico as early voting begins
Spanberger addressed a supportive crowd of about 100 outside the government center before heading off to greet voters at other early voting sites in eastern Henrico and in Fairfax County.
Spanberger encouraged supporters not to believe the polls that show her up double-digits. She said she is working to build a broad coalition and said: “I know that we’re going to run hard through election day.”
Spanberger has criticized Earle-Sears for campaigning with Ramaswamy, who initially was a co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, a White House office that has led cuts to the federal workforce and spending under President Donald Trump.
During a Friday afternoon appearance at a Fairfax County early voting site with Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, and Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-11th, Spanberger brought up DOGE and what she termed the cuts’ cascading effects on Virginia’s economy.
Spanberger cited “our neighbors, our friends, our fellow Virginians who have lost their jobs in service to our country because of DOGE, and all of the other community members, small business owners, restaurant owners, who have been in that.”
She said “people want a governor who will stand up for Virginians, a governor with plans to make impacts on the biggest challenges we are facing.”
We have 45 days until election day, but today is the first day of early voting. We saw Spanberger cast her ballot earlier today in the Richmond area, and we caught up with her afterwards. We asked her just what issues were top of mind and crucial to her campaign. And what she thought was helping propel her race? Here’s what she said. Take a listen to this.
Spanberger: “It’s exciting to see people out recognizing that our votes are our voice and endeavoring to really ensure that we make a difference this November. Those are the issues — lowering costs, how we can put real efforts in place, not just to lower costs but to frankly mitigate the harm of bad policies coming out of Washington that will further raise costs at this consequential time.”
NBC News: Rep. Spanberger speaks out about fired federal workers as she casts a ballot for herself
NBC News spoke to Rep. Abigail Spanberger after she cast her ballot — for herself — in the Virginia governor’s race. Spanberger is running against Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, a Republican, in the closely watched race.
On her priorities, Spanberger, a Democrat, first mentioned “getting the ball rolling” on prescription drug policy.
“Ultimately, it will be elements of my affordability plan, and ensuring that we are able to pull every lever to lower health care costs, will be the priority,” she said.
Spanberger also spoke to the issue of federal worker cuts — noting that of the 320,000 federal employees in Virginia, tens of thousands have lost their jobs, with more expected at the end of the month.
“That impact is significant, certainly, in our communities,” she said, adding, “It’s small-business owners, it’s restaurant owners, it’s government contracting firms. We’ve seen just a constriction of various parts of our economy.”
The next governor, she said, needs to stand strong for their constituents who have been affected.
“We need a governor who will name a number of the challenges that we’re facing as Virginians and stand up for our federal workforce,” she said.
29News [Charlottesville]: Spanberger casts her ballot as polls show her leading in gubernatorial race
Statewide candidates for office spent part of their day at the ballot box . On this first day of early voting ahead of November’s elections, Democrat Abigail Spanberger started her day exercising her right. The latest from the Wason Center out Thursday shows her with a twelve-point lead among likely voters over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears.
BACKGROUND
Spanberger has continued to make lowering costs for Virginia families a top priority in her campaign.
Last month, Spanberger’s campaign released a new ad highlighting Winsome Earle-Sears’ vocal support for the Republican tax law that will raise costs on Virginia families.
Earlier this year, Spanberger announced her Affordable Virginia Plan, which would lower Virginians’ healthcare and prescription drug, housing, and energy costs.
Spanberger has also stressed her commitment to protecting and growing Virginia’s economy amid the Trump Administration’s attacks on Virginia workers.
A recent forecast from the University of Virginia projects that the Commonwealth will have virtually no job growth in 2026 due to the Trump Administration’s “delayed federal layoffs and tariffs.” Virginia has faced rising unemployment rates for the past seven months — the longest streak since the 2008 Great Recession — and lost its CNBC ranking as “America’s Top State for Business” earlier this summer due in part to federal job cuts “disproportionately” hurting Virginia’s economy.
To help respond, Spanberger rolled out her Growing Virginia Plan to invest in workforce training programs for the next generation, expand trade opportunities for Virginia businesses, and strengthen Virginia’s economy for working families.
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