Catching Up With Rep. Abigail Spanberger

Plus: The dream of a sort-of-bipartisan January 6 commission evaporates.

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Happy Friday—and go Team USA! This week, we caught up with Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat who hails from a bellwether district in Virginia and is not afraid to buck her party on occasion. As the 2022 midterm elections near, she’ll be one to watch. 

Stuck in the Middle with Spanberger

In the era of Joe Biden’s presidency, Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger is in just about the most exciting—and the most fragile—place to be: the middle.

Post-mortems of the 2020 election largely held that it was the middle—suburban voters, independents, nonvoters and moderate-to-conservative Democrats—that delivered Biden the presidency and Democrats one-party control of Washington. Biden appealed to these voters in part with a message of restoration of norms—an implication he would seek to restore a corroding American center, fast disappearing under a tug of war between the progressive left and the far right. In his inauguration speech, he continued that theme, pledging to work across the aisle and to be the president for all Americans.

Then, of course, the grim reality of governing—and governing with razor thin majorities at that—set in.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Really enjoyed this installment of Uphill. Great job. Glad you interviewed Spanberger. I used to live in the district next door to hers and I’d see signs for her everywhere. She’s probably one of my favorite politicians from the other side of the aisle.

    I was angry with Pelosi at first with this partisan commission but recently her moves have been very laudable. Appointing Cheney and Kinzinger. Rejecting McCarthy’s childish attempt to undermine the whole shebang with Banks and Jordan. At the same time, I’m actually mildly interested in seeing what the GOP’s version of a commission does.

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    Michael Darwin

    How the hell did we end up with McCarthy as Minority Leader? I get we can't stop the American people from electing incompetent boobs, but do we really need to put them in the leadership?

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    Patrick O'Rouke

    McCarthy should get with OJ Simpson and ask for some advice on running alternative investigations.

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    rlritt

    I think this would be a great opportunity for Republucan politicians to show that not all legislatures are Trump's toadies. Some are actually intelligent people with integrity.

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    JohnF

    Thank you for spending time highlighting Rep. Spanberger. Far too much time and space is being wasted on Greene, Goetz, AOC, Omar, etc., instead of focusing on the members of Congress (in either party) who are serious, rational, and looking to get things done. I look forward to more of these profiles.

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    Man-Eating Cow

    I'm pretty sure Representative Spanberger and I would start out on opposite sides on a lot of controversial issues. But, if the portrait here is faithful, we could at least talk intelligently, and maybe even find both our views changing for the better.

    We need more of that.

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    Pat Riot

    There was never going to be a bipartisan commission for 1/6 because Republicans in Congress are *defendants* in this crime. Republican lawmakers being implicated in the violence will be bad for them politically, which means *any* actual investigation will be "political".

    It's like the Catholic church refusing to investigate abuse because it will make the Church look bad. Well yeah, it will.

    Pelosi, meanwhile, is executing a clever bit of politics by putting "those Republicans" on the Commission and calling it (correctly) bi-partisan. Here she's absolutely *begging* McCarthy and the Republican MSM to say in essence, "but those aren't *real* Republicans" thus making the split in the GOP more pronounced.

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      Man-Eating Cow

      "Republicans in Congress are *defendants* in this crime."

      Kind of lost me right there.

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        JohnM.

        Exactly. Is Liz Cheney included?

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          Pat Riot

          Yep, she's one of the ones Pelosi *will* invite onto the commission. Again, very astute politics on her part to point out the split in the party.

          That said, it isn't much of a split: there's her and perhaps 10 others in Congress on one side, and the entire GOP caucus in Congress on the other. And while Cheney might dodge the axe because of her famous name, most of the others won't see past 2022 in office.

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          Man-Eating Cow

          This. Trump is plausibly a defendant. But Congressmen? Some might be accessories after the fact, at worst -- and not many. The connection between challenging an election return (stupid and evil as that is) and inciting the January 6 riot is too tenuous for me.

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            Pat Riot

            They will *certainly* be witnesses, as we need to learn what they knew. There are many, many accounts of lawmakers having discussions with Trump about 1/6 so Congress needs to get to the bottom of that.

            So yes, I guess "defendants" is premature, but it's certainly plausible.

            But all of this is on the *individual* level. McCarthy is concerned that 1/6 might make the GOP look bad, which, well, it (rightly) does.

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            JohnF

            Mo Brooks?

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    David Chen

    Sometimes I can't believe I'm from the state of Pelosi and McCarthy...

    But if Pelosi does add some more sane people like Kinzinger and Meijer, I'll give her credit for not being a total hack.

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  9. Brook

    Good column. I like Rep. Spanberger. She actually cares about reaching solutions — something that requires reaching across the aisle. This of course means that in 2022 she will lose to a Trump-supported Marjorie Taylor Greene type.

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  10. Vic

    Can the authors of the Spanberger piece cite ANY vote in this Congressional session in which she has deviated from the rest of the Dems? Spanberger's posturing as some kind of moderate is just that, posturing. Any bets on whether or not she will oppose the Dems $3.5 trillion (or whatever it ends up being) "human infrastructure" bill when it comes up for a vote in the House? Spoiler alert: she will vote in favor of it.

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      Patrick

      The article listed several things she voted against that deviated from most Democrats.

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      1. Vic

        Not from the current session. Those were from the session prior to the 2020 election. The Dems' margin in the House is so small they won't be able to tolerate any defections, and she could be exposed as the fake she is.

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        1. KyleGF

          They won't tolerate any defections---like Spanberger voting against Pelosi even though there was a tiny cushion? Obviously you aren't particularly open minded if you are calling the Congresswoman "fake" and waiting for her to be "exposed." That kind of rhetoric is more befitting of Mother Jones or Daily Wire comment sections, not this one. Goodness gracious.

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          1. Vic

            I would still like an answer the question of what legislation Spanberger has spilt with the Dems on this session. I know she voted in favor of the For the People Act monstrosity, which everyone knew was an overreach and was going nowhere. She also voted for the PRO Act, which is a big give to labor unions, and also is going nowhere. Any examples to the contrary?

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