BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Democrat Abigail Spanberger would rather talk about the problems facing soybean farmers than President Donald Trump’s attack on American institutions. She downplays the historic nature of her campaign for governor of Virginia and avoids making gigantic, bold promises about what she will accomplish if elected.
Still, some believe the moderate approach – others call it tedious – that the former congresswoman and CIA case officer has taken ahead of Tuesday’s election is the key to the Democratic Party’s national revitalization.
“Don’t promise things you know you can’t keep,” Spanberger said aboard her bus campaigning this week to become the state’s first female governor. It was a sober warning to Democratic leaders across the country — including New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and former President Joe Biden.
That may be a disappointing message to the millions of enraged voters who have flocked to anti-Donald Trump protests in recent weeks, calling on Democratic leaders to take bold action to combat the Republican’s norm-defying presidency. But as the Democratic Party looks for a powerful message and messengers after its Election Day defeat last fall, Spanberger offers a pragmatic focus on economic concerns and a watered-down promise to address Trump’s most damaging policies when possible.
That approach is consistent with a growing group of Democratic governors, senior party officials and Mikie Sherrill, the New Jersey congresswoman and former Navy helicopter pilot who is the only other Democratic gubernatorial candidate on the ballot next week. They are betting heavily that a centrist message aimed at voters’ economic concerns will lead to victory where an intense focus on stopping Trump from destroying American democracy failed in 2024.
The Republican candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Trump-backed former business owner and state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli, have sought to portray their Democratic opponents as out-of-touch liberals more concerned about transgender rights and immigrants in the United States illegally than the safety of schoolchildren.
This playbook worked for Trump in the last presidential election. But given Spanberger and Sherrill’s national security backgrounds, it’s unclear whether that will work Tuesday.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who campaigned alongside Spanberger and Sherrill last week, noted that both candidates focused on rising costs while offering a stark contrast to the chaos that has gripped Trump’s Washington. It’s broadly the same approach Shapiro has taken as he prepares for a swing-state re-election campaign in 2026 and ahead of a possible presidential run in 2028.
“The lesson wins,” Shapiro said when asked if the approach reflected lessons learned from Democrats’ struggles in 2024.
Democratic divisions are emerging
The Democratic Party is anything but united on the question of what to do next.
Just as Spanberger and Sherrill advocate for moderation, progressive leaders like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have thrown their support behind Mamdani, who is also on the ballot Tuesday. The self-described democratic socialist has called for state-run grocery stores, free public transportation and rent freezes, among other things, which may be hard to implement if he wins.
Mamdani is in an increasingly heated race with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani.
“The socialists want to take over the Democratic Party,” Cuomo said in a radio interview over the weekend. “He wins, book plane tickets to Florida now.”
But some Democratic voters, even some who came to Virginia this week to hear Spanberger’s message, say they are excited about Mamdani.
Mikal Blount, a 31-year-old commercial window cleaner, joined dozens of voters at a Norfolk restaurant on Sunday to see Spanberger. He said he was impressed by her bipartisan approach and experience in law enforcement, but also hoped Mamdani won and became a national star.
“It’s OK for moderates to build common ground and progressives to be willing to fight,” he said, expressing frustration with his party’s leaders in Washington. “I’m like, what are we doing? We’re not fighting back. The MAGA Republicans aren’t holding back, so why are we doing this?” – referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
Spanberger was less enthusiastic about Mamdani’s performance.
In an interview, Spanberger said she fears his approach could alienate people from the party, but not necessarily because of his most controversial policies, even those she disagrees with. For them it’s about telling the truth.
“We should always, always, always dream big. We shouldn’t focus on small things, only focus on doing small things,” she said. “But if he makes promises he can’t keep to people who struggle to put food on the table for their children or pay the bus fare to get to their second job of the day, what long-term impact does it have on the people who put their trust in someone?”
Spanberger offered similar criticism of Biden’s campaign promise to cancel student debt.
“We wonder why people say, ‘Oh, I’m tired of voting for Democrats,'” she said. “If you talk to people about debt relief, some people will say, ‘He didn’t do what he said he would do.’ Well, he could never have done that, could he?”
A step in the middle
A group of Democratic officials released a report this week, “Deciding to Win: Toward a Common Sense Renewal of the Democratic Party,” that effectively supports Spanberger’s approach.
The report includes contributions from top advisers to Biden, former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris. She calls on Democratic candidates to reject progressive purity tests and talk less about democracy, climate change and far-left cultural priorities and more about health care, the cost of living and public safety.
Veteran Democratic activist Jesse Ferguson, who contributed, said Spanberger is doing well because she is “able to connect the pain of Washington to the pockets of Virginia.”
“Trump’s authoritarianism will fail – not because we convince people that he is authoritarian, but because we show them that it is expensive,” Ferguson said.
Spanberger did not attend any of the “No Kings” protests where millions of anti-Trump voters worried about the threat he posed to U.S. democracy. On a nationwide bus tour this week that took her from Virginia’s wealthy northern suburbs to military base communities on the East Coast and the Appalachian Mountains in the rural Southwest, she rarely said his name.
“I feel like if I say it too much, it’ll be like Beetlejuice. He’ll show up,” Spanberger joked.
This election, she said, is more about the struggles of everyday voters than Trump’s attack on democracy.
“If we win, it will be a rejection of policies that are hurting Virginia, be it the shutdown, DOGE or tariffs,” Spanberger said. “Just like one guy single-handedly destroys soybean farmers in Virginia, just like one guy single-handedly increases input costs for fertilizer and farm equipment.”
Another topic Spanberger doesn’t often mention: the possibility of becoming the first woman elected governor in Virginia.
“I’m excited that we’re going to have a female governor. I’m excited about the fact that the next generation of candidates won’t have to say, ‘Oh, do you think a woman can win?'” she said. “It’s very important for other people. But I never want to be in the race for myself.”
