Democrat Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), of Virginia’s seventh congressional district, received a new GOP challenger on Wednesday morning. Conservative outsider Taylor Kenney announced her bid for the seventh district in the 2022 midterm election. In her campaign launch, she pointed to Spanberger’s voting record that is in-line with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
“Throughout my career, when I see a problem, I get to work and find solutions. Right now, Washington is broken and has stopped working for us. Our current Representative has simply not gotten the job done in Congress - she’s all talk,” she said in a release. “Despite promising to be a bipartisan voice, Abigail Spanberger has voted with Nancy Pelosi over 90% of time since taking office, including a shocking 100% of the time during the Biden administration. This is not bipartisan, this is politics as usual and we deserve better.”
She pointed to her experience running a non-profit organization, Little Hands Virginia, that ensures that newborn children have access to basic essentials. Taylor argued that her “solutions oriented approach” will be effective in Congress.
“I know what it takes to build consensus, bring people together, and find solutions to the problems facing our community. When I saw that families in Central Virginia had trouble getting basic essentials for their children, I launched Little Hands Virginia from my garage while on maternity leave. Today, we work with over 50 local partners to identify children in need of support and will serve over 1,000 children in 2021 alone. I plan on bringing this same solutions-oriented approach to Congress to deliver real results for Virginia’s Seventh District,” Taylor concluded.
Spanberger defeated former Congressman David Brat (R-VA) in the 2018 midterm elections, and won reelection in 2020 over Republican Nick Freitas. The seat was previously held by former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). One Virginia GOP strategist told Townhall that Taylor is “a new voice" for conservatives, as well as for GOP voters “sick of losing this seat.”
Spanberger’s reelection is rated “lean Democrat” by the Cook Political Report.