The Mysteries of Spanberger

Abigail Spanberger won the Virginia governor’s mansion on a positive wave of bipartisanship that only an ex-C.I.A. Democratic representative could muster in a purple state. Now, just two months into her term, she finds herself waging a redistricting war and gambling her political capital on flipping congressional seats.

Naturally, this volte-face has focused attention on Spanberger, herself. Republicans have argued that she’s a hypocrite, while Democrats are fighting among themselves regarding whether her campaign for the new map—a 10–1 draw in favor of Democrats, versus the current 6–5 split—is too partisan or not partisan enough. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Abby Livingston

March 30, 2026

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Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who campaigned on good vibes and affordability, has found herself in a post-honeymoon miasma of political fury and redistricting hell. Spanberger supported bipartisan redistricting in 2020, but has since reconsidered. Yes, she’s claimed that her change of heart occurred only after Trump’s land grab last summer in Texas. “The governor understands that the landscape changed when states started redrawing their maps to please a president who said he’s ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” her spokeswoman, Libby Wiet, noted. But the shift has not been subtle. Last week, Spanberger and fellow convert Barack Obama firebombed March Madness TV timeouts with ads calling on Virginians to blow up their independent map in favor of a redraw that would effectively decimate the state’s Republican federal delegation.