Abigail Spanberger


Abigail Anne Davis Spanberger is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, her district includes most of the northern suburbs of Richmond, as well as some exurban territory until Fredericksburg. Spanberger defeated Republican incumbent Dave Brat in 2018. She is running for a second term in 2020.

Early life and education

Abigail Spanberger was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, on August 7, 1979. When she was 13, her family relocated to the Short Pump area outside Richmond, Virginia, and she attended Tucker High School. Listening to her Ecuadorian babysitter speak Spanish sparked her interest in languages. She speaks Spanish, French, German, and some Italian. Spanberger was later a page for Senator Chuck Robb.
Spanberger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration from a joint program between the GISMA Business School in Germany and Purdue University's Krannert School of Management.

Early career

In 2002–2003, Spanberger taught English literature as a substitute teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy.
In the early 2000s, Spanberger worked as a federal postal inspector on money laundering cases, as well as intercepting shipments of illegal drugs into the United States.
In 2006, Spanberger joined the Central Intelligence Agency as an operations officer. She worked overseas on classified matters of national security that included intelligence gathering on terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
Upon exiting the federal government, Spanberger entered the private sector and was hired by Royall & Company where she worked to help academic institutions diversify their student bodies.
She was appointed to serve on the Virginia Governor's Fair Housing Board, which serves to ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing around the Commonwealth.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

In July 2017, Spanberger announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in in the 2018 election against Republican Dave Brat. She made the final decision to run in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
On June 12, 2018, Spanberger defeated Dan Ward in the primary election for the Democratic Party nomination with 73% of the vote, receiving more votes than any other candidate in the Virginia primaries that day. Her campaign out-raised Brat's campaign. She won the seat by a narrow margin on November 6, defeating Brat by just over 6,600 votes. While Brat won eight of the district's ten counties, Spanberger dominated the two largest counties, Henrico and Chesterfield, by a combined margin of over 30,000 votes; her margin in either county would have been enough individually to give her the victory.

Tenure

Spanberger was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives for her first term on January 3, 2019. In the election for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on the opening day of the 116th United States Congress, Spanberger voted for U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos, an Illinois Democrat, for speaker.

Committee assignments

Sources:

Caucus memberships

Spanberger is a moderate Democrat.

Abortion

Spanberger supports legal abortion.

Economy

Although not a member of Congress when it passed, Spanberger criticized the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act because of permanent tax cuts for corporations that increased the national debt.
Spanberger has called for the passage of the USMCA trade deal negotiated between the Trump administration, Mexico, and Canada.

Environment

Spanberger called climate change "one of the greatest and most imminent threats to our economy, our national security, and our way of life" and promised to "stand up to attacks against science." She described the Green New Deal proposed by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a "bold compilation of ideas meant to address global climate change" but criticized it for allegedly including unrelated policy proposals and not identifying specific resolutions to the problems that it identifies. "Overall I am not a supporter of the Green New Deal," she said.

Guns

Spanberger has called for a new version of the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. She favors requiring background checks on private gun sales and supported a ban on bump stocks.

Healthcare

Spanberger supports the Affordable Care Act.

Immigration

Spanberger objected to President Donald Trump's travel bans and argued that they would aid in jihadist propaganda by allowing them to portray the United States as an anti-Muslim country. She has voiced her support for stronger border security measures but opposes Trump's proposed wall. She voted for a bill that included funding for border infrastructure, technology at ports of entry and more customs and border patrol agents. She said that she did not support "sanctuary cities" but also referred to the term as "a campaign slogan a lot of people get caught up in." She added that it "degrades the value of the conversation if we're not actually talking about what the real concern is." Spanberger called for a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants who abide by the laws, work, and pay taxes.

Donald Trump

According to FiveThirtyEight's congressional vote tracker, Spanberger votes with Donald Trump 6.9% of the time—about one seventh of the expected tally when factoring in the district's partisan leaning and general partisanship in Congress. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump bested Hillary Clinton with 50% of the vote to her 44% in Spanberger's congressional district.
On September 23, 2019 Spanberger joined six other freshmen Democrats in the House in calling for an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. They co-wrote an opinion editorial in The Washington Post explaining their support for an impeachment inquiry, writing "Congress must determine whether the president was indeed willing to use his power and withhold security assistance funds to persuade a foreign country to assist him in an upcoming election." Spanberger later announced that she would vote in favor of impeachment. "The President’s actions violate his oath of office, endanger our national security, and betray the public trust," she said.
In June 2020, Spanberger harshly criticized Trump after police used tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protestors and a priest during the George Floyd protests in order to clear a path so that Trump could have a photo-op in front of St. John's Episcopal Church.

Electoral history

Personal life

Spanberger married Adam Spanberger, and they have three daughters. In 2014, Spanberger and her family moved back to Henrico County. They live in Glen Allen, Virginia.