Virginia Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger will not seek reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives next year and will run for governor, she announced Monday.
Spanberger made the announcement in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.
“I’m officially running to become the next Governor of Virginia,” she wrote. “I know that when we rise above the chaos and division, we can focus on what matters most to Virginians.”
I'm officially running to become the next Governor of Virginia.
— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerVA07) November 13, 2023
I'm a former CIA case officer, former federal agent, current Member of Congress, and mom to three great kids.
I know that when we rise above the chaos and division, we can focus on what matters most to Virginians. pic.twitter.com/rB5EoNnD2H
“Today, we find ourselves at a crossroads,” she stated in the video. “Our country and our commonwealth are facing fundamental threats to our rights, our freedoms, and to our democracy.”
The video showed a montage of different clips surrounding abortion, with a voiceover claiming that “Virginians are at risk of losing the right to reproductive freedom” and that some schools in the commonwealth were removing books from the curriculum.
“While some politicians in Richmond focus on banning abortion and books, what they’re not doing is helping people,” Spanberger claimed. “No more using teachers and our kids as political pawns…and stopping extremists from shredding women’s reproductive rights.”
In 2021, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin defeated former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the gubernatorial election. Youngkin’s campaign focused pro-family issues, specifically, parental rights in education. In one of the debates, McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Youngkin prevailed in the election.