Campaign on Affordability, Deliver Radical Leftism: You’ve Been Spanberged!
By Scott PinskerIt’s the hottest craze in bait-and-switch politics: Promise the voters you’ll focus like a laser beam on the “affordability crisis” and then gerrymander, disenfranchise, raise taxes, weaken criminal statutes, attack ICE, confiscate guns, and pivot to abortion in the third trimester.
Hello, Virginia! You’ve been Spanberged!
She became Virginia’s governor on January 17 after running on affordability — and those were Abigail Spanberger’s words, not mine.
From her actual campaign website:
In her race for the Virginia governor’s mansion, Spanberger has stayed laser-focused on affordability, an issue that Republicans capitalized on in 2024 but continue to struggle with in 2025. She launched her “Affordable Virginia Plan” in June, highlighting her strategy to lower healthcare, prescription drug, housing, and energy costs.
“I’m responding to the things that voters are asking me about on a daily basis,” she said, referring to the housing and rental markets, energy costs and health care prices.
In a post-election interview with Virginia Business, she credited “affordability” for winning the race:
In thinking through what is the mandate of my election and what motivated so many people to get out and vote, I think about the things I talked about on the campaign trail — issues of affordability and housing, health care, energy.
Seems simple enough: If affordability was your winning issue, it’d be awfully smart to follow through on it. It’s a lesson most politicians know by heart: “Dance with the one who brung ya.”
Yet here we are, not even a month into her governorship, and affordability is out the window. (Some campaign promises, I suppose, are just too expensive to keep.) Instead of being “laser-focused on affordability,” Spanberger has dropped the façade, choosing instead to be a left-wing crusader, delivering her base every last goodie on their partisan wish list.
It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad:
This you? https://t.co/LRXb6gipfw pic.twitter.com/zzZJuLqAOp
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) February 6, 2026
Either way, self-defense certainly won’t be more affordable in Virginia.
From Virginia Mercury:
Over nearly four hours, the Democratic-led Senate Courts of Justice Committee approved more than half a dozen bills tightening rules on assault-style firearms, gun storage, concealed carry reciprocity, ghost guns and weapons in public spaces, while rejecting the lone Republican proposal that would have increased mandatory minimum sentences for repeat firearm offenses.
All of the votes fell along party lines.
Keeping criminals off the streets won’t be more affordable. If anything, the cost of criminal activity will almost certainly increase.
From the New York Post:
Within days of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger being sworn in, members of her party introduced a flurry of amendments looking to end mandatory minimum sentences for various crimes within the state.
According to Jason Miyares, the former Republican attorney general, House Bill 863 includes proposals to effectively eliminate minimum sentencing for manslaughter, rape, possession and distribution of child pornography, assaulting a law enforcement officer and other repeat violent felonies.
Additionally, Democrats are also looking to remove the mandatory five-day minimum sentence for certain first-time DUI offenders.
Taxes won’t be more affordable either. We’re not even a month into Gov. Spanberger’s term and we’re already up to 50+ new taxes and/or tax-hikes!
From WJLA:
Despite campaigning on making life more affordable for Virginians, Democratic lawmakers in Richmond introduced more than 50 new taxes and tax increases this month during the General Assembly session.
Taxes on concerts, counseling, electric leaf blowers, Amazon deliveries, Door Dash, Uber Eats, and guns and ammunition are among a flood of proposals the Democratic majority in the Virginia General Assembly introduced.
As 7News reporter Nick Minock noted:
“There's a [proposed] tax on ride share,” said Minock. “There's a fantasy sports tax, dry cleaning tax, home repair tax, vehicle repair tax, digital personal property tax increase, new car taxes and highway use fees, gym membership tax, dog walking tax. A lot of people are wondering, how would this make life more affordable for people?”
Fox News gave a further breakdown of all the new taxes:
The new proposed policies [in Virginia] include:
- dog walking and grooming tax
- gun and ammunition tax
- new income tax brackets
- storage facility tax
- dry cleaning tax
- home repair tax
- new personal property tax on electric leaf blowers and electric landscaping equipment
And, to battle the evil scourge of global warming, Virginians’ electric bills will be spiking, too:
Newly sworn-in Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran on a platform of making Virginia more affordable.
After taking office earlier this month, she said the state will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which will add a fee to monthly electric bills.
In addition to increasing the tax burden on citizens, Spanberger also made it easier for illegals to evade immigration authorities.
From The Hill:
State agencies in Virginia will no longer enter cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to an executive order from Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D).
In a brief press conference Wednesday, Spanberger said the order was about maintaining “public trust” in state law enforcement.
And you can’t forget about abortion: Sure, Virginians may have said they care about affordability, but what they were REALLY clamoring for was eliminating parental consent for minors and allowing abortion in the 9th month of pregnancy!
From Virginia Mercury:
A proposal allowing mid-decade redistricting of Virginia’s congressional maps that cleared the legislature last week may dominate debate heading into a spring special referendum, but a constitutional amendment on reproductive rights is poised to ignite similar fervor as the November election approaches.
[…]
On the opposite side of the chamber’s aisle — and in opposition to the amendment — [Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight] unsuccessfully attempted to modify the proposal to explicitly spell out care for babies when born.
A sticking point for some Republicans has been concern that the amendment could be interpreted to allow abortion up to the “moment of birth,” though infanticide remains illegal under both state code and federal law.
Sen. Tara Durant, R-Stafford, also attempted for the second legislative session in a row, to reiterate existing parental consent laws. Democrats and legal experts said it is unnecessary.
Wow, you can almost feel the cost of living dropping like a rock! Way to go, Democrats!
It’s bad news for Virginians, but it’s a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: The Democrats might campaign on affordability in 2026 and 2028, but don’t believe them.
Judge them by their actions, not their slogans.
It reminds me of OJ Simpson’s prank DVD from 2006. In it, the ex-football star (and acquitted murderer) played stupid, hidden camera pranks on unsuspecting people, punctuating the gotcha-moment by declaring, “You’ve been Juiced!”
Watch out, America — or you’ll be Spanberged.Because Virginians already have.
One Last Thing: 2026 is a critical year for America First: It began with Mayor Mamdani declaring war on “rugged individualism” and will reach a crescendo with the midterm elections. Nothing less than the fate of the America First movement teeters in the balance.
Never before have the political battlelines been so clearly defined. Win or lose, 2026 will transform our country. |
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