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Over 250 years, Virginia has had seventy-four governors, each one of them male. This week, Abigail Spanberger broke this historic barrier by securing the position as the first female governor in the commonwealth's history.

A Campaign Focused On Cost-of-Living Concerns and Strategic Criticism

The former US representative and Central Intelligence Agency operative won with a election strategy that focused on cost-of-living issues and deliberately opposed the former president's agenda instead of the individual.

Background and Academic Journey

Hailing from in a New Jersey town on 7 August 1979, she relocated to a Virginia community at thirteen. Her dad was an military serviceman who subsequently pursued a career in police work; her mom was a healthcare professional and volunteer.

She attended the Virginia's flagship university, receiving a diploma in French studies. After graduating, she worked briefly as a educator before pursuing a government work.

“I grew up knowing that I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps and I did,” Spanberger told supporters at a rally in Norfolk, Virginia over the weekend.

Government Roles

At the Postal Service, she investigated involving drugs, abusers and money launderers. She executed search and arrest warrants, often being the sole female on the arrest team. She then entered the Central Intelligence Agency and concentrated on counter-terrorism cases, working covertly and internationally.

Family Decision

In 2014, she and her spouse, an technical professional, considered their future. Living on the Pacific coast, they were contemplating another overseas assignment. They took out a world map and asked their oldest child, then in kindergarten, where they should go. Virginia, she replied, because “everyone we love reside in Virginia”.

Spanberger stated at her rally: “And so we opted to transition from a path of service to country, to state involvement because she was correct. All our relatives lives in Virginia.”

Political Beginnings

Back in her home state, she participated in a grassroots group, which combats gun violence, and started a Girl Scout troop. In 2017, she decided to run for Congress, which advisers told her was a “crazy endeavour” because no Democrat had won the seventh district in half a century.

“But I saw what the president was doing with his executive power and how he was dividing communities. And I saw my representative repeatedly oppose the Affordable Care Act. And I knew I had to step up. So spoiler: I succeeded.”

Bipartisan Reputation

In Washington, she rapidly became part of the centrist group, a collection of moderate and fiscally moderate Democrats. She focused on lower-profile issues: expanding internet access to the countryside, combating drug trafficking and veterans’ services.

She built a standing for partnering with colleagues across the aisle and was often cited as the most bipartisan representative of the Virginia delegation. She was vocal about messaging that she believed turned off centrists, cautioning her party against partisan language that could be used against them in contested districts.

Political Alliance

Along with Congresswomen a former CIA analyst and Mikie Sherrill, she was called a part of the “mod squad” in contrast to the progressive “group” of AOC.

Run for Governor

In that autumn, she declared she would step down for a fourth term and would instead campaign for Virginia's leadership in the next election.

Her campaign highlighted themes of civic duty, support for education and infrastructure and defense of democratic institutions. Her CIA background gave her credibility on defense issues and she described government work as a vocation instead of a career.

Election Victory

This helped her to overcome rival candidate Winsome Earle-Sears’s attacks on cultural issues, including the assertion that Spanberger is an radical on civil rights and transgender healthcare.

The governor-elect, who stated that individual districts should determine whether transgender students can join school athletics, portrayed her rival as the candidate more misaligned with the center of the Virginia electorate.