Abigail Spanberger
Appearances
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
I think the governor of Virginia has a primary job, and that is to stand up for Virginians and to stand up for Virginia.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And what is just unbelievable at this moment is that our governor and our lieutenant governor, who's my opponent in our November 2025 race, are doing neither, excusing the fact that Virginians who work hard, Virginians who serve our country, that they are losing their jobs, have already lost them, and are fearful that tomorrow might be the day they get that that fateful email.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
It's just outrageous.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
well every every part every corner of our commonwealth is impacted by these potential layoffs and by the ones that have already occurred we have federal employees across virginia certainly very very centralized in northern virginia and in the hampton roads region but across the commonwealth everywhere i go i am hearing either horror stories of people who just got an email one day and the job that they have worked in for years is gone
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
or they are living in fear that they might get that email. And in the story, it is the same everywhere I go. I had a spouse of an active duty service member approach me at an event in Norfolk, Virginia last weekend, talking about how everyone in his office received this fork in the road email.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And while he's active duty and a uniformed officer, the worry is that they might cut the entirety of the civilian force. Frankly, was her worry what's to prevent them from, you know, axing her husband as well. And the impact of certainly it is on the individuals. It is on people who have devoted their lives to serving our country through all of these various things.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
of federal roles, it's also an impact on Virginia. The University of Virginia just came out with a study, and they said a 10% reduction to the federal workforce equates to about 39,000 jobs lost across Virginia and a potential cut of $6 billion, with a B, $6 billion in revenue, or $6 billion in economic output within our state. This is enormous.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
It's consequential for the individuals, but it's consequential to our economy, right? If you've just lost your job or you're fearful you might lose your job, you're not taking your family out to the movies. You're not taking your spouse out for Valentine's Day dinner. You're not replacing the microwave that might be on the fritz.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
You're not stopping and buying the snacks at the 7-Eleven on your way home. the impact is significant and it is felt across the entirety of Virginia.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
I got to tell you, you guessed this one correctly. Anywhere I travel across Virginia, I have yet to have a single person bring up the Gulf of America to me. In addition to the attacks on Virginia and Virginians, I have people bringing to me the fact that the cost at the grocery store is still too high.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
The cost of cereal, I've got three kids at home, elementary schooler, middle schooler, and high schooler, right? The cost of cereal is expensive. If you've got kids at home who love cereal or adults like me, Grocery store prices, high. Prices at the pharmacy counter, still a huge portion of people's monthly take home.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
The housing crisis, whether it's an issue of affordability or just overall lack of supply. Education, the desire to have our kids be safe in school. The issue of recruiting and retaining quality teachers. Ensuring that our kids continue to do well in school as we kind of come out of this post-pandemic timeframe. The challenges of behavioral health.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
All of these things, these are the issues that people bring to me. I have yet, yet to hear anything about the Gulf of America.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
There's no such thing as method to the madness in the national security realm. The reality is that that vote was a shameful vote. We are the United States of America. We have been that shining city on a hill. We are the beacon of freedom. We are the oldest democracy in the world.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
The fact that we, through our vote at the United Nations, would side with Russia and North Korea against our ally Ukraine as they fight, and they just hit the third anniversary of their fight for their freedom, it is just shameful. And it is astounding because for anyone who has come up, not just in the national security space, but anybody who lived through the 80s, right?
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
The Russians, the Soviets before them, they are not the side we want to be taking. And for all of our democratic allies across Europe and across Asia to join together in rebuking Russia and standing up for Ukraine, And we back away from that? Like, we are denying our own strength. The strength of the United States has always been in our ability to lead.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And whatever she was talking about in that interview, it wasn't, there's no method. It's just madness. And it is hurting our own national security. It is hurting our long-term partnerships with our friends and allies. And it is, it's just unthinkable, frankly. But it is the reality of where we are in this moment.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And I, my hope is that every American who remembers what it means that we are the country that defeated the Nazis, right? We are the people who helped lead to the end of the fall of the Soviet Union. And we watched the demise of communism. Like, that is us. Here we have in the United Nations, we've aligned ourselves with those authoritarian dictatorships. It's terrible.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
Yeah, well, for Virginians, my message is we have the ability right here on the ground to focus on the issues that matter to community members across the Commonwealth, strengthening our public schools, endeavoring to actually lower costs for Virginians, ensuring that our housing supply is sufficient to meet the demand of all of the people who want to move to our beautiful, wonderful state, keeping our communities safe
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
and protecting our rights. Virginia is the only state in the South that hasn't further restricted reproductive rights since the Dobbs decision. And we get to go to the polls in November of 2025. And all of those things, it matters to Virginians. certainly because we're the ones who live here, are impacted by the work that I will do as governor.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
But to everybody across the country, I would say our race matters to you as well, because Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states that in 2025, this November, we have statewide races. In Virginia, we have the opportunity to flip our governorship. We currently have a Republican governor. We can flip our governorship. We can flip our lieutenant governorship. We can flip our attorney general.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And we can expand upon the majority of 51 out of 100 Democrats that we have right now and make that number larger. And when we do that, we will send a message to the rest of the country. We will send a message to candidates running across the country in our 2026 midterms. that we did it in Virginia and you can do it anywhere across the country. We are the bellwether state.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And when we win here, it is the first domino to fall in ensuring that we win across the country in 2026 in those midterms. And so for anybody who wants to be engaged, for anyone who is feeling depleted or just so many feelings at this moment. Like, turn your attention to Virginia. Support our candidates, whether it's me as the governor candidate or our House of Delegates candidates.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
Sign up to volunteer from afar. You can come to Virginia, knock doors for us in the fall. But we need all the help that we can get because we know that all eyes will be on Virginia because we know we're the bellwether. And on the ground, I can tell you Virginians across the Commonwealth are committed to making sure that as the bellwether, we do our job and we signal what is to come.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And that is success, that is electing strong Democrats and making a real change, not just here in the Commonwealth, but being the precursor to all of that in 26 and 27 and ultimately 28. So you can go to my website, which is abigailspanberger.com. You can sign up to volunteer. You can donate to the campaign. You can get engaged.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
And we are just so happy and grateful for any and all support that we can have from anywhere across the country. It matters to us in Virginia. Certainly it matters to the future of our Commonwealth, but we recognize the role that we play on the greater stage. So please, please come join us. We're going to win, but we're gonna need every bit of help that we can to flip these seats.
The MeidasTouch Podcast
Abigail Spanberger on Fighting for Virginians and Americans
Thank you so much.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
Well, what I know to be true is the governor and lieutenant governor, they're clearly not listening to Virginians because everywhere I go across our Commonwealth, people are bringing to me their deep, deep concerns about what this administration is doing. I was at the grocery store with my husband picking up some vegetables.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
last-minute items, and I had an IRS employee and his spouse come up and talk to us about their concerns. I was in a parking lot in Northern Virginia. I had a military officer talk to me about the impact he's seeing in his office. I had a military spouse in Hampton Roads talk to me about the concern in her husband's office. I've heard from
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
Medical professionals at the VA in southwest Virginia worry that they might lose their job. I cannot go anywhere without having Virginians bring to me their concerns. And it's not just the federal employees who are potentially losing their jobs. It's small business owners. And it's outrageous that the governor is not standing up for Virginians or Virginia.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
Well, and, Rachel, people aren't buying it. The reality is, if you are an NIH researcher because you want to bring your knowledge, your scientific inquiry to the cause of trying to save lives into the future, you don't want to have your governor tell you to get on LinkedIn. If you are an IRS worker who is gearing up for a busy tax season, you do not want your governor saying, go to Indeed.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
If you are a person, many of them veterans themselves, who work the suicide prevention lines or who work at the VA supporting their fellow veterans, You do not want your governor saying, no, no, it'll be fine. That mission-driven job that you've believed in, that you've spent day in and day out devoting yourself to, you'll be fine. You'll find something else.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
It is absolutely out of step, not just with the economy of Virginia, not just with our needs on the ground, but it's out of step with the fact that the More than 145,000 Virginians who devote themselves to public service do it out of mission. They do it because they believe in the service that they are rendering to our community and to our country.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
The governor and the lieutenant governor do not recognize that service. And they degrade it when they say you can simply just go find another job. For so many people, this is not a job. This is a calling. This is how they give back to our community.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
And if the governor and the lieutenant governor are not going to stand up for those individuals who want to serve our neighbors every single day, then they should at least recognize the Incredible economic impact that is coming if they don't stand up. The University of Virginia put out a study just this week.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
A 10 percent cut in Virginia's federal workforce is about 39000 people and it is $6 billion. billion in lost economic output in our state. It is unthinkable what is happening. And we need everyone to be raising the alarm bells, ringing the alarm bells, because this is hurting real people and this is hurting our economy.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
And frankly, this is why I'm running for governor, because I want to ensure that every day, whether it's this or lowering costs or ensuring Virginia's on the path towards having the best public schools in the nation, addressing the housing affordability and the housing shortage crisis impacting our Commonwealth or the real issues of safety in our community. I want to serve Virginians.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
And that means at times, standing up even when it is hard. And that is all that Virginians are asking of our governor. We're not seeing it. We've got elections this year. We are running around our commonwealth making clear that Virginians deserve so much more. They deserve a governor who's standing up for them. That's exactly who I will be.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
And I'm grateful for the opportunity to stand up for Virginians tonight. And anybody else who wants to join us, please go to my website, abigailspanberger.com.
The Rachel Maddow Show
As measles outbreak turns deadly, RFK Jr. gets the facts wrong
Thank you for having me.