The former president called Virginia’s elections “some of the most important in the country.”
WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama announced Thursday morning that he is formally endorsing former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) in the race for Virginia’s governor.
In an ad posted to Spanberger’s official YouTube page, Obama called Virginia’s elections some of the most important in the country. “Having the right governor matters, and I’m proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger,” he said.
Spanberger is set to face off against Republican Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Nov. 4.
Spanberger and Earle-Sears are not only competing to become the next governor of Virginia but also to hold a distinction as the commonwealth’s first woman governor. If Earle-Sears wins, she would become the first Black woman to ever serve as governor of any U.S. state.
Who is Abigail Spanberger?
Spanberger has cited her experience as an operations officer inside the Central Intelligence Agency in campaign ads as formative in establishing her political positions. Spanberger served in the CIA from 2006 until 2014.
First elected to the House of Representatives in 2018, Spanberger held posts on the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee of Foreign Affairs. The Democrat made her mark as a political maverick, occasionally criticizing colleagues from her own party and even the policies of former President Joe Biden.
In a leaked call from 2020, Spanberger called out her Democratic caucus, criticizing campaign strategies from that year’s congressional elections and an alleged move from the party toward more left wing political positions.
“We should not ever use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again,” Spanberger said in the leaked conference call from 2020, obtained by The Washington Post.
After Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Earle-Sears were elected governor and lieutenant governor in 2021, Spanberger held Biden partially responsible, accusing the former president of trying to enact a grandiose policy agenda.
“Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,” Spanberger said of Biden in 2021.
A historically Republican stronghold — the 7th congressional district was once home to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and his Tea Party-affiliated successor Dave Brat — Spanberger held on to her district in each of her three congressional elections, including against Brat, all by margins of victory of less than 5%.
After announcing her run for governor in 2023, Spanberger dropped out of the race for reelection in 2024. Spanberger was succeeded by another Democrat in Eugene Vindman.
Spanberger was born in Red Bank, N.J. although her family moved to Henrico County, Va. when she was 13. Spanberger lives in Glen Allen.
Campaign ads from Spanberger have criticized Earle-Sears for her support for Trump’s spending bill, nicknamed the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, saying that the legislation cuts funding for health care and education. Spanberger also accused the lieutenant governor of presiding over a rising unemployment rate.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in Virginia was 2.7 when Earle-Sears swore into office in January 2022. As of the September evaluation of August’s numbers, the rate has risen to 3.6.