Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered her first address to the General Assembly on Monday, outlining how she intends to govern over the next four years. (She used the word “intend” five times.)
Cardinal’s Richmond-based reporter, Elizabeth Beyer, has a separate story on the details that Spanberger laid out. Here’s my assessment of what I heard — and didn’t hear.
1. Spanberger intends to be the anti-Trump
She has yet to mention the president’s name, but doesn’t need to. It’s very clear who she’s talking about. She devoted part of her inaugural address to an account of how she believes President Donald Trump has hurt the nation in general and Virginia in particular. She did the same thing Monday, just in different ways. She said Virginians did not “elect me to settle scores or add to the noise in our politics today” — this on a day where Trump said he was fixated on obtaining Greenland because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.
When she talked about her “affordability” agenda, she quoted Trump himself: “There are some who have even called affordability a ‘hoax.’ A ‘con job.’”
Spanberger said that she hoped she and the president would have “a productive relationship built on mutual trust and respect. We are neighbors, after all.” But then: “I also have a responsibility to the 8.8 million people who call Virginia home. So when federal actions attack and threaten Virginia jobs, I will not hesitate to push back. When federal chaos creates uncertainty for Virginia families, I will work to provide stability. When Washington fails to lead with dignity and respect and follow the rule of law, Virginia will. Above all else, my job as governor is to provide what the federal government too often has not: predictability, steadiness and an unrelenting focus on the people we serve.”
2. We’re going to have a debate over what ‘affordability’ is
Spanberger laid out three areas she wanted to focus on: energy, health care and housing. The way she and fellow Democrats want to make things affordable and the way Republicans want to make things affordable will not always overlap. Spanberger said she would return Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; she said Youngkin’s withdrawal from the pact “did not lower energy costs.” Republicans believe being part of RGGI will raise them. She said she wants to see more battery storage, which she said “allows us to capture cheaper power and use it during peak demand — when prices are highest. That means savings for families and a more reliable grid for everyone.” Republicans say battery storage is expensive to build.
Meanwhile, House Republicans held an event Monday where they rolled out their affordability agenda — repealing the Virginia Clean Economy Act, eliminating the car tax, eliminating the tax on groceries and making permanent the enhanced standard deduction, which otherwise is set to expire. Since Republicans are in the minority — a greatly reduced minority in the House — their ability to enact that agenda is also greatly reduced. However, they have at least done a good job of outlining their policy differences.
3. Her first boos came from Democrats — on right-to-work
Democratic legislators spent a lot of time cheering Spanberger, but went silent — and some even booed — when she said she wouldn’t support a repeal of the state’s so-called right-to-work law, which forbids compulsory payment of union dues from non-union members working in a union-represented workplace. Many Democratic legislators ran on a platform of repealing right-to-work; Spanberger’s viewpoint is more in tune with that of the business community than progressive activists. It will be curious to see what happens to this legislation — will it get bottled up in committee or actually get to her desk?
4. Spanberger praised her Republican predecessor on economic development
Just as Spanberger didn’t have to reference Trump in her inaugural address but did, she didn’t have to praise former Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his economic development but did, “particularly on shovel-ready sites and positioning Virginia for investment.”
Youngkin himself could have delivered these lines: “Make no mistake about it: we are competing against 49 other states for the best talent in America — and the businesses that follow that talent. If we do not act, we will lose that competition. On my watch as governor, I do not intend to lose. I intend to dominate.”
5. Spanberger said she wanted Virginia to regain its No. 1 ranking as ‘best state for business.‘
CNBC issues annual rankings, which Virginia governors love when the state scores well and the party out of power talks about when the state doesn’t. This year, Virginia slipped from first to third and Spanberger correctly identified a big reason: federal job cutbacks. She then said something I’d have advised her against saying: “Our job now is to put ourselves in a position to reclaim the top spot — and stay there.”
Here’s why I consider that a risky proposition: CNBC changes its formula every year. Virginia could fall under Spanberger’s watch and it might have nothing to do with her but everything to do with CNBC’s secret math. That’s not how the general public would see it, though. For those keeping score at home, we might not even see the impact of Spanberger’s policies on the CNBC ratings until the 2027 version; a lot of economic data has a big lag time. If Virginia falls again this year, Republicans will surely criticize her even though much of that data is already baked in now. And if Virginia rises, it might not be something she did. Vowing to be No. 1 is stirring rhetoric, but she’s yoked herself to a proprietary algorithm that nobody outside CNBC knows.
6. Spanberger said Virginia is now seeing more people move out than move in
Youngkin was focused on migration data, more so than any other governor I’ve seen. He spent a lot of time talking about those numbers in his 2021 campaign — and how Virginia was seeing more people move out than move in. He was rightly proud when trends shifted and Virginia started seeing net in-migration again. A few weeks ago, U-Haul issued its annual report on migration trends and said Virginia had fallen 19 spots and was now beginning to export people again, by a slight margin.
Spanberger referenced this in her speech: “Recent data indicates that in 2025, Virginia saw more people leave the state than move in.”
I give Spanberger credit for noticing this, but I’d caution that U-Haul’s list is not formal demography; it’s based on the company’s customers, who may or may not be representative of the population as a whole. As regular readers know, I’m a demographics nerd, but I’ve intentionally not written about the U-Haul rankings because later this month we’ll get the annual population report from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. Spanberger, as governor, might even get an advance copy (Youngkin did). I’d rather wait and see what actual demographers have to say.
However, we’ve seen other data that shows whatever Virginia’s population trends are, they won’t be big ones either way, so Spanberger (like Youngkin before her) is right to focus on migration. She also cited a statistic I intend to dig into for a future column: “Nearly half of college students who graduate from Virginia universities leave the commonwealth within five years — above the national average.”
We cannot build a strong economy if what we’re really doing is educating some other state’s workers.
7. For someone who grew up in the suburbs, Spanberger talks a lot about agriculture
During the campaign, Spanberger mentioned agriculture more than most, often referencing her congressional service on the House Agriculture Committee. I’ve learned to be somewhat cynical about what candidates say, but her frequent invocation of agriculture did catch my ear. She referenced agriculture again on Saturday in her inaugural address, but it’s always hard in those speeches to tell what’s boilerplate and what’s not.
On Monday, though, Spanberger cited agriculture again, with a specific directive: “Cargo traffic at the Port of Virginia is already down nearly 9%. That tells a story of broader struggles — for our farmers trying to get their products to market, for our forestry industry, for businesses large and small across the commonwealth. With that, I have directed our Secretary of Commerce and Trade Carrie Chenery and our Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Katie Frazier to work together in a coordinated effort to help Virginia’s farmers and producers expand their reach — domestically and internationally — and make sure that communities in rural Virginia can reap the benefits of trade.”
That may just be boilerplate, too — no governor is going to call for fewer sales of ag products, and citing agriculture seems a good way to show that a governor is in touch with rural Virginia (even if most rural residents aren’t farmers). Still, I’ve heard Spanberger say “agriculture” enough now that perhaps we really ought to expect some kind of action.
If she really wants to work across the aisle, she’s got some Republican legislators who are actual farmers that she can work with: Mitchell Cornett of Grayson County, Justin Pence of Shenandoah County, Michael Webert of Fauquier County.
8. Pay attention to what Spanberger didn’t say on redistricting
The governor addressed the four constitutional amendments going to the voters. She made clear, unmistakable endorsements on three of them: abortion, civil rights restoration, same-sex marriage. She did not do that on the amendment that would allow a midcycle redrawing of congressional lines to produce more favorable Democratic results. Maybe that’s just a dodge, or maybe Spanberger is playing chess here.
“Virginia’s proposed redistricting amendment is a response to what we’re seeing in other states that have taken extreme measures to undermine democratic norms,” Spanberger said. “This approach is short-term, highly targeted and completely dependent on what other states decide to do themselves. For those who may oppose Virginia’s response, I call on you to make clear your opposition to what is happening in other states. “
Here’s a hint of daylight I see: If other states call off their redistricting, Spanberger would have a reason to call on Virginia Democrats to stand down. I don’t really expect this to happen — passions are too high on all sides — but Spanberger seems to be preserving some options for herself in case, by some political miracle, some of these other states come to their senses.
As with many things, we’ll see. But sometimes what we don’t hear is just as important as what we do — and all this is what I heard.
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