WASHINGTON — Furious conservatives have branded newly sworn-in Dem Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger the “White Witch” and a “Bond villain” after she signed and queued up a dizzying array of lefty policies to jumpstart her four-year governorship — after running as a moderate pragmatist.
During her first week, Spanberger (D) quashed her predecessor’s policy requiring state and local law enforcement to partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and vowed to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to slash carbon emissions, among other moves.
Democrats in the General Assembly have also unveiled a firehose of hardcore progressive legislation now that they have full control of the commonwealth.
This includes bills to raise taxes on e-commerce services like UberEats, create new tax brackets for the rich, ban gas-powered leaf blowers, clamp down on anti-abortion rights protesters, tax firearms suppressors and more.
“We’re setting the tone for what Virginians can expect over the next four years: pragmatic leadership focused on lowering costs, growing our economy, and making sure that every parent knows that their child is set up for success,” Spanberger, Virginia’s first female governor, crowed about her early actions.
Spanberger has yet to weigh in on some of the most extreme proposals that Dems are mulling in the state legislature, but her detractors are wary that she’ll acquiesce to the left.
“She’s been in office like 6 hours and is already trying to turn Virginia into Minneapolis,” conservative pundit Meghan McCain grumbled late last week.
“It’s like the CIA built the perfect Karen in a lab,” Ben Domenech, editor-at-large of The Spectator and husband of McCain, chided on X.
Spanberger had worked for the CIA as a case officer starting in the mid 2000s before her ascension to Congress in early 2019.
Domenech referenced Spanberger’s nixing of former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) executive order demanding state and local cops cooperate with ICE.
Notably, cops are still allowed to work with ICE.
“A long winter without Christmas has come to Virginia,” the conservative Catholic Lepanto Institute swiped with a photo of Spanberger as the wicked White Witch from the Narnia books.
“She’s like a Bond villain,” Assistant US Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon jabbed in response to Spanberger’s executive order on ICE.
“VA Democrats are proving to Americans that they didn’t learn any lessons from 2024. They will protect criminal non-citizens and continue the trans agenda on kids, two of the top issues that cost them the election,” former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) groused on X.
Most of Spanberger’s executive orders revolve around her affordability agenda, such as requesting a report on steps she can take to cut the cost of living for Virginians, evaluating the state’s healthcare infrastructure, assessing the DOGE cuts, and more.
She’s repeatedly urged state lawmakers to craft legislation to combat the affordability crisis, an issue Democrats believed helped fuel their 2025 off-year election victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and elsewhere.
Still, there are open questions about how far left she will be willing to go as progressives pile up lofty bills in the state legislature.
The Post reached out to her office for comment.
One issue she has given pause is the Democrats’ push for a new congressional map that could shift Virginia’s current congressional delegation of six Democrats and five Republicans to a 10–1 map, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
However, it seems likely that she will be willing to move in that direction.
In Congress, Spanberger gained a reputation for occasionally punching the left flank of the Democratic Party, famously sparring with the “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wing after the Dems barely held onto the House in 2020. She also reportedly demanded that Dems stop using the socialist label.
That past conviction is about to be put to the test.
Other lefty legislation being floated includes measures to loosen election integrity laws by extending the deadline for ballot curing to a week after Election Day, barring the feds from detaining illegal immigrants in courts, getting rid of some mandatory minimum sentences, and allowing municipalities to set up speed cams.
Critics argue that the bill to eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing would apply to egregious crimes such as rape, manslaughter, distribution of child pornography, and more.
Meanwhile, the proposed tax increases on e-commerce companies like UberEats, investments, and the wealthy come despite Youngkin leaving the state with a budget surplus.
Spanberger had easily cruised to a blowout election victory last November, trouncing former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) by about 15 percentage points.
Her former roommate, Mikie Sherrill, won the governor’s race in New Jersey and was sworn into office on Tuesday.
