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One of the Democratic Party’s rising star governors, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, is being slammed for signing a bill to award the state’s presidential electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
The bill signed by Spanberger adds Virginia to the National Popular Vote Compact, an interstate agreement between states to award the entirety of their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Virginia Republicans railed against the bill, arguing it makes the state’s votes “NULL AND VOID.”
This comes as Spanberger, who was recently selected to deliver the Democrats’ response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, has seen her approval ratings plummet. Critics have accused her of abandoning her centrist campaign message to advance far-left policies.
Criticisms of Spanberger erupted anew after news broke that Spanberger had approved the bill. The Virginia Republican Party posted on X that “fake Moderate Spanberger just signed a bill to render Virginians’ vote for president NULL AND VOID!”
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A 4th grader works on an election-themed art project at Heather Hills Elementary School in Bowie, Md., on Oct. 22, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
The GOP said that under the bill, “all of Virginia’s Electoral College votes will go to the winner of the national popular vote — no matter who wins the popular vote in our Commonwealth.”
The party called the move “an unconstitutional assault on our democracy.”
However, Spanberger won praise from groups that oppose the Electoral College. Stand Up America, a progressive voting rights organization, hailed the move, with Executive Director Christina Harvey calling it “an important step forward for representative democracy.”
“Virginia has set another powerful example for other states of how to stand up for representative democracy even as they come under increasing pressure from the Trump administration,” said Harvey, adding, “The presidency should be won by the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide—not just the right combination of battleground states.”
She said, “this brings us one step closer to a system where Americans’ votes for President and Vice President count equally, no matter where they live.”
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact operates on a conditional trigger that keeps the law dormant until it can guarantee a victory for the national popular vote winner. While member states pass the legislation individually, the compact only activates when the total electoral weight of all participating states reaches a majority of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes.
With Virginia officially joining, the compact currently sits at 222 electoral votes, meaning it remains 48 votes short of the threshold.
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The Virginia State Capitol during the inauguration ceremony of Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger in Richmond on Jan. 17. State Democratic lawmakers have introduced more than 50 new tax or tax increases to the legislature for things like dog walking, deliveries and dry cleaning. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)
Until that 270-vote mark is met, the law has no effect, and member states continue to award their electors based on their own internal state results.
National Popular Vote, the organization advancing the compact, also celebrated Virginia being added, saying in a statement that the compact “will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
Patrick Rosenstiel, a spokesperson for National Popular Vote, told Digital he is “grateful” to Spanberger and the Virginia Legislature, saying “their support builds critical momentum for our movement to give 63 percent of American voters what they want, a national popular vote for President.”
“With Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, the National Popular Vote Compact is 48 electoral votes short of reaching the 270 required to activate it,” Rosenstiel noted, adding, “We’ll continue our state-by-state work until the candidate who wins the most popular votes is elected president and every voter is treated equally in every presidential election.”
The group noted that similar bills have been introduced in Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, no voter will have their vote cancelled out at the state-level because their choice differed from plurality sentiment in their state. Instead, every voter’s vote will be added directly—without distortion—into the national count for the candidate of their choice. This will ensure that every Virginia voter is relevant in presidential elections moving forward.
Spanberger has also recently been accused by former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin of “illegal and unconstitutional” gerrymandering amid her push to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps.
Virginians will vote April 21 on Spanberger’s redistricting referendum, a move that Youngkin said would give Democrats 10 of the state’s 11 congressional seats.
Spanberger signed hundreds of bills passed by the majority-Democratic legislature on Monday. She also vetoed a few bills relating to unregulated skill-gaming machines and a proposed Fairfax County casino and sent back dozens with proposed amendments.
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Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger responds to President Donald Trump’s, unseen, State of the Union. (Steve Helber/Reuters)
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Among the bills that Spanberger signaled support for with proposed amendments was a slate of new restrictions on gun ownership, including a ban on “assault weapons,” as well as restricting law enforcement from assisting with immigration enforcement.
Digital reached out to Spanberger’s office for comment.
