Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger ran her campaign as a centrist moderate, eschewing divisive partisanship in her successful attempt to succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Conservatives in Virginia tried calling her out because her record in Congress said otherwise. But the machinery of media stenography and money was in place, and she won easily on the centrist mirage.
Acting as the Democratic Party's comms arm, the media continued echoing her campaign claims after her victory. Bloomberg, for instance, called her victory "an affirmation of Democratic centrism" and said she "leaned into her bipartisan bona fides, airing ads featuring moderate Republicans."
In her victory speech, Spanberger said: "We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship… Leadership that will focus on problem solving, not stoking division."
That may be what Virginia chose, but it is not what Virginia got. It was all a lie. Within 24 hours of her inauguration as Governor last week, the mirage disappeared, and Virginians were thrust into the desert of radical leftist leadership.
Spanberger issued a torrent of executive orders while a new, emboldened majority of Democrats in the General Assembly introduced unhinged bills. It was the stuff that would make Minnesota and California radicals proud — entirely partisan, divisive, expensive, corrupt, and creating problems where they did not exist — 180 degrees from her campaign.
The actions of Spanberger and her New Democratic majority in the General Assembly speak for themselves.
On the corruption and going easy on criminals front, Spanberger and Democrats:
- Immediately ended all cooperation with Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement officers;
- Introduced a bill eliminating mandatory minimum sentencing for rape, manslaughter, assaulting a law enforcement officer, possession and distribution of child pornography, and all repeat violent felonies because going easy on rapists and child porn purveyors is pure centrism;
- Followed the giant Minnesota scams of taxpayer money with a bill banning Virginia from requiring nonprofits to verify whether people are even eligible for federal taxpayer benefits. Apparently, go in and take our money. Fraud is a central feature of the Democratic Party.
On going backwards on the DEI front:
- Want to create a quota system for the use of "small, women-owned, or minority-owned businesses" in government contracting. Screw you, white men are very centrist.
- Introduced a bill mandating children be taught "inclusive history" that includes every marginalized group on earth, from tribes in faraway lands to "transgender and queer" people;
- Introduced a bill requiring nurses to have mandatory training on "unconscious racial bias";
On the tax, tax, tax everyone front:
- Introduced a bill to impose a tax on every retail delivery service, including Uber Eats, Amazon, and DoorDash, because nothing says fighting for affordability like taxing everything ordinary people use.
- Speaking of which, the bill also expands the retail sales tax to include everyman services such as dry cleaning, landscaping, animal care, cosmetic services, and gym memberships;
- And of course, double income tax on "high earners" while imposing a 3.8 percent net investment tax, which will hit many people.
On the election fraud front:
- A bill that would ban hand recounts of election results for any reason. Just building in more fraud. Maybe next they will introduce blacked out windows in election offices and ban election observers.
- Take gerrymandering to the next level. Right now, the breakdown of Virginia's congressional delegation is 6-5 Democrat. A bill would allow the General Assembly to bypass the state's bipartisan independent commission and create congressional districts to impose a map that would be 10-1 for Democrats, just raw partisan power.
And just for good measure, because no degree of government intrusion is too much for Democrats, there is a bill that would authorize a grand big brother state by using a vast array of cameras and AI to monitor speed, red lights, getting too close to a pedestrian crossing, jaywalking, and, well, anything the state wants.
Responding to the astounding about-face by Spanberger and Virginia Democrats, Elon Musk summed it up perfectly on X: "They will do this nationally as soon as they gain power, and democracy will end."
Yes. Because there are no moderates left in the Democratic Party, only extremists who are doing everything possible to destroy America and create a dystopia that would make George Orwell blush.
Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children and seven grandchildren and a rapacious hunger to fight for America for them. Follow him on Twitter at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at [email protected].
