The Patriot Post® · Major Buyer's Remorse in Purple Virginia
Virginians are having major regret. After just two months in office, Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger has earned an approval rating of 47%. “The approval mark for Spanberger is 13 percentage points lower than the average for Virginia governors in Post polling since the 1990s,” according to The Washington Post.
Why?
Well, because the radical Spanberger sold herself to voters as a moderate. She promised to be a reasonable politician and yet has governed like a tyrant, using the legislature and her own pen to push through an extreme left-wing agenda.
The biggest issue is the Democrats’ potential gerrymandering. Throughout her campaign, Spanberger promised not to support redistricting. And yet, after just a few days in office, she signed legislation that led to a special referendum for a bad Illinois-level gerrymandering scheme.
Virginia is a purple state, so its 11 districts are currently split pretty evenly. However, with the Democrats’ rigging, only one district would remain red. This is a scheme worthy of the crooked politicians in Illinois.
The referendum vote is taking place on April 21. Not only has it been endorsed by former President Barack Obama, but its advocates have raised a total of $40 million, thanks in part to George Soros. Conversely, its opponents, with $8 million, lack the same level of financial backing.
Spanberger also promised to make Virginia more affordable, but her proposals would create new income brackets that would “expand taxes on investment income, potentially pushing Virginia’s top effective rate to roughly 13.8%, higher than California’s,” according to The Daily Wire.
And finally, the legislature has ushered forward more than 30 gun control measures; made Virginia a sanctuary state à la Minnesota, where law enforcement won’t cooperate with ICE; and is pushing another climate initiative boondoggle that would increase energy costs.
Of course, it should not be a surprise that Spanberger turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. During the campaign, she supported Jay Jones for state attorney general. Jones was literally caught in a texting scandal in which he once told a fellow House member that he wanted to murder his opponents, called their children fascists, and hoped those children died in their mothers’ arms. Spanberger allowed him to stay in the race by doing nothing, and Jones rode on her coattails to victory.
As Spanberger’s election opponent, former Virginia Lieutenant Governor and Jamaican native Winsome Earle-Sears, told reporters, “I’m from a country where I saw political violence, where I see political gangs shooting people and shooting each other when I was 10 years old. And to think that that’s what I’m seeing in America today, it is absolutely crazy. And for my opponent, Abigail Spanberger, to not tell her attorney general nominee … to get out of the race … this cannot be what we are about in Virginia.”
Spanberger’s collapsing approval rating should be a wake-up call. As political scientist Larry Sabato noted, “A drop of that margin is stunning, and it should be greatly disturbing to the governor and the governor’s staff if it’s repeated in other surveys.”
Democrats believe that Spanberger has time to fix things. Saboto himself suggested that she focus on policies that help Virginians with affordability. However, even he concedes that there are limited items in her tool chest. Additionally, The Washington Post editorial board recommended that she not sign every radical piece of legislation that crosses her desk. In other words, grow a spine for her base that comprises many independent voters.
More likely, though, Spanberger will not care. If her gerrymandering gambit wins approval, Virginia conservatives will effectively lose their voice in government. But it is also a gamble. If she loses the referendum, it will indicate that she poked the bear one too many times. She will have blown Virginia Democrats’ chance of using the same scheme in future elections, at least for a while.