Spanberger ran a pretty good campaign, speaking a lot about "affordability" and emphasizing her moderation and ability to work across the aisle.
Republicans ran another "I have a black friend, too" candidate who was uninspiring. The Republican turnout in 2025 was substantially less than that of 2021. And Spanberger won handily with her "moderate" and "affordability" platform.
Right off the bat, she announces she will not cooperate with ICE in enforcing US immigration law. (More on this in a bit)
The General Assembly met in January and set to proposing laws for the 2026 session.
- New 4.3% sales tax on Uber Eats, Amazon, etc deliveries.
- New sales tax on admissions to a wide variety of businesses.
- Create two new higher tax brackets of 8% and 10% on people making over $600K.
- A new 10% tax bracket for anyone making over $1M.
- 3.8% investment tax on top of state income taxes.
- Raise the hotel tax.
- New personal property tax on landscaping equipment?
- Ban gas powered leaf blowers. (?)
- Guarantee illegal aliens free education.
- Make it illegal to approach somebody at an abortion clinic.
- Extend the time absentee ballots can be received after election day to three days
- Allow people to cast their votes electronically through the internet.
- Expand ranked-choice voting.
- Extend the deadline for ballot curing to one week after election day.
- Redact the addresses of political candidates from FOIAs.
- Add Virginia to the National Popular Vote Compact for presidential electors.
- Make it illegal to hand count ballots.(?)
- "Assault weapons" and large capacity magazine ban.
- 11% sales tax on all firearms and ammunition.
- Prohibit outdoor shooting of a firearm on land less than 5 acres.
- Lower the criminal penalties for robbery.
- Ban the arrest of illegal aliens in courthouses.
- Remove mandatory minimum sentences (to effectively eliminate minimum sentencing for manslaughter, rape, possession and distribution of child pornography, assaulting a law enforcement officer and other repeat violent felonies.)
- Allow localities to install speed cameras.
- Replace Columbus Day with "Indigenous Peoples Day."
Proposed bills are not yet through the General Assembly and signed by the governor (cue the Schoolhouse Rocks song, "I'm Just a Bill"). Some of these are relatively harmless (Columbus Day). Some are just weird (banning gas-powered leaf blowers? Is that really a problem?) A lot of these are tax increases that will make things more expensive, not more affordable.
Three categories are troubling:
Laws intended to make voting easier, but are liable to abuse. Election Day will in effect become election season and the count will not be done until a week after the election if some of these become law.
Laws to infringe on gun ownership. (Section 13 of the Virginia Bill of Rights states, "That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." One bill makes it a felony to posses an "assault gun" (defined as any semi-automatic rifle) and to possess a magazine of more than ten rounds. And there is no grandfather clause.
Laws to reduce prison time for violent offenders. Do we really want to eliminate minimum sentences for rapists, child pornographers and those who assault law enforcement officers?
While we are reducing the sentences of rapists and killers, we want to disarm the populace?
Finally, the ICE cooperation Executive Order.
On Feb 23, an illegal immigrants named Abdul Jalloh stabbed to death a woman named Stephanie Minter. Before Jalloh was charged with fatally stabbing Stephanie Minter, he had been arrested more than 30 times, serving a short time in jail after stabbing a man in 2023. The local police chief warned the Commonwealth's Attorney that Jalloh would commit violent crimes again, but the CA said he had not been tried because his victims (largely homeless people) would not testify in court. You know what Fairfax County could have done? Hand the guy over to ICE for deportation. ICE said they lodged a detainer on him in 2020 and got an order of removal.
Now Spanberger is calling for redistricting congressional districts before the mid-terms.
No honest person likes gerrymandering. Virgina in 2021 adopted a bipartisan commission to draw up congressional districts. Now Democrats want to to crap that and allow themselves to draw district maps. Their policy is "Texas is doing something wrong, so we must do something wrong." I realize that maybe Spanberger spoke before Texas announced their redistricting plan, but the logic remains the same: two wrongs do not make a right.
I really wish that Virginia Democrats would bear in mind that voters across the country are watching what they do.
Republicans ran another "I have a black friend, too" candidate who was uninspiring. The Republican turnout in 2025 was substantially less than that of 2021. And Spanberger won handily with her "moderate" and "affordability" platform.
Right off the bat, she announces she will not cooperate with ICE in enforcing US immigration law. (More on this in a bit)
The General Assembly met in January and set to proposing laws for the 2026 session.
- New 4.3% sales tax on Uber Eats, Amazon, etc deliveries.
- New sales tax on admissions to a wide variety of businesses.
- Create two new higher tax brackets of 8% and 10% on people making over $600K.
- A new 10% tax bracket for anyone making over $1M.
- 3.8% investment tax on top of state income taxes.
- Raise the hotel tax.
- New personal property tax on landscaping equipment?
- Ban gas powered leaf blowers. (?)
- Guarantee illegal aliens free education.
- Make it illegal to approach somebody at an abortion clinic.
- Extend the time absentee ballots can be received after election day to three days
- Allow people to cast their votes electronically through the internet.
- Expand ranked-choice voting.
- Extend the deadline for ballot curing to one week after election day.
- Redact the addresses of political candidates from FOIAs.
- Add Virginia to the National Popular Vote Compact for presidential electors.
- Make it illegal to hand count ballots.(?)
- "Assault weapons" and large capacity magazine ban.
- 11% sales tax on all firearms and ammunition.
- Prohibit outdoor shooting of a firearm on land less than 5 acres.
- Lower the criminal penalties for robbery.
- Ban the arrest of illegal aliens in courthouses.
- Remove mandatory minimum sentences (to effectively eliminate minimum sentencing for manslaughter, rape, possession and distribution of child pornography, assaulting a law enforcement officer and other repeat violent felonies.)
- Allow localities to install speed cameras.
- Replace Columbus Day with "Indigenous Peoples Day."
Proposed bills are not yet through the General Assembly and signed by the governor (cue the Schoolhouse Rocks song, "I'm Just a Bill"). Some of these are relatively harmless (Columbus Day). Some are just weird (banning gas-powered leaf blowers? Is that really a problem?) A lot of these are tax increases that will make things more expensive, not more affordable.
Three categories are troubling:
Laws intended to make voting easier, but are liable to abuse. Election Day will in effect become election season and the count will not be done until a week after the election if some of these become law.
Laws to infringe on gun ownership. (Section 13 of the Virginia Bill of Rights states, "That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." One bill makes it a felony to posses an "assault gun" (defined as any semi-automatic rifle) and to possess a magazine of more than ten rounds. And there is no grandfather clause.
Laws to reduce prison time for violent offenders. Do we really want to eliminate minimum sentences for rapists, child pornographers and those who assault law enforcement officers?
While we are reducing the sentences of rapists and killers, we want to disarm the populace?
Finally, the ICE cooperation Executive Order.
On Feb 23, an illegal immigrants named Abdul Jalloh stabbed to death a woman named Stephanie Minter. Before Jalloh was charged with fatally stabbing Stephanie Minter, he had been arrested more than 30 times, serving a short time in jail after stabbing a man in 2023. The local police chief warned the Commonwealth's Attorney that Jalloh would commit violent crimes again, but the CA said he had not been tried because his victims (largely homeless people) would not testify in court. You know what Fairfax County could have done? Hand the guy over to ICE for deportation. ICE said they lodged a detainer on him in 2020 and got an order of removal.
Now Spanberger is calling for redistricting congressional districts before the mid-terms.
No honest person likes gerrymandering. Virgina in 2021 adopted a bipartisan commission to draw up congressional districts. Now Democrats want to to crap that and allow themselves to draw district maps. Their policy is "Texas is doing something wrong, so we must do something wrong." I realize that maybe Spanberger spoke before Texas announced their redistricting plan, but the logic remains the same: two wrongs do not make a right.
I really wish that Virginia Democrats would bear in mind that voters across the country are watching what they do.
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