Analysis: Virginia Gov. Spanberger’s leftward lurch could be model for Democrats going forward 

Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, already facing a dissatisfied electorate, could face more heat after revelations she secretly broke a key campaign promise to protect girls in sports.

In July, the governor, who campaigned as a moderate, withdrew a rulemaking effort that would have barred biological males from female-only sports, bathrooms, locker rooms and other intimate spaces, according to a report from local WHRO.

The rulemaking process was abandoned without notifying anyone, according to the public radio station.

The story was later confirmed by local WJLA 7News.

“It saddens me to see Spanberger take a position that I feel does not adequately protect female athletes and women’s privacy and safety,” Reka Gyorgy, a student athlete, told 7News.

Fox News said the story was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which confirmed it officially with Virginia Health Commissioner Cameron Webb. However, this story is not being indexed by Google or the site itself, although other stories from the newspaper are.

Multiple times throughout the campaign, the governor emphasized that as the mother of three daughters who go to public schools, she would prioritize safety, competition and fairness on the issue of men in female sports and spaces.

A model for Democrats?

Spanberger may represent a broader Democratic governing model of campaigning in competitive territory as a pragmatic moderate but, once elected, enacting progressive policy changes that are politically or institutionally difficult for successors to reverse.

The governor, who took over at the beginning of the year, has good political reasons to hide her agenda.

A July poll from Virginia Commonwealth University shows only 44% of registered voters approve of her job performance after being elected in November 2025 with nearly 58% of the vote.

Vice President of Policy Derrick Max at Virginia’s Jefferson Forum told Heartlander News that ditching the rulemaking effort to protect girls in sports isn’t the first time Spanberger has abandoned the moderate middle.

Max cited nearly 10 issues where “she’s completely abandoned any idea of being a moderate,” including collective bargaining, marijuana legalization and licensing, paid family and medical leave, minimum wage, paid sick leave, clean energy and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, redistricting, data center regulation, the Dominion/NextEra merger and transgender sports and spaces.

Many of the policies he described as “job killers.”

“She passed paid sick leave, which is basically a 1% increase in the payroll tax,” Max said.

He said the paid family leave law contains provisions that will be onerous for employers, such as paid leave for military spouses when one spouse gets deployed, paid leave for somebody who claims to be being stalked by a former partner and paid leave if a roommate gets sick.

Max noted the Spanberger governing model relies on giving people benefits that are difficult to get rid of later.

“Once you give people freebies, it’s hard to take them back,” he said.

Max said that in negotiations with Dominion Energy and NextEra over their merger in the state, Spanberger extracted a $10 rebate on customers’ bills that will expire in four years.

“That’ll last throughout her administration,” he told Heartlander News. “But then the minute she’s out of office, the rebate goes away. So she’ll look like she had cheaper energy. The next governor, whoever that is, is going to see an increase.”

Virginia has a one-term limit for governor that requires politicians to sit out one cycle after serving a term before they can run again.

Max described Spanberger more as an opportunist than as a progressive, claiming she often seizes on issues that are in the public eye and then pretends to be leading from the front, as is the case in data center regulation, where she’s recently stepped up efforts.

“When she sees a parade, she gets in front of it and tries to act like she’s leading it,” he said. “And I don’t know that she has a governing philosophy, so she just gets in front of whatever will make her look popular.”

Data center taxation and regulation are especially sensitive because Virginia has yielded a windfall from property taxes generated by data centers in the state.

Previously, Heartlander News reported that in Loudoun County, Virginia, data center tax revenues accounted for 38% of county government’s income, which has allowed the county to cut property taxes 30% since 2016.

“Obviously, on data centers, she’s going to bear a pretty big hit to the Virginia economy if any of what she’s trying to do actually happens,” he said. “You know, our economy would have been in the tank had we not had the data center revenue, the data center jobs, the data center investment.”

Trying to figure out whether she’s a progressive or a moderate is almost impossible, he added, noting that in Congress, she only had one or two areas of disagreement with Democrats.

“But if you actually look at her overall voting record, I don’t think anyone would actually call her a moderate,” he said before concluding, “but she campaigned like that.”

Spanberger has also come under fire for gutting an office installed by her predecessor to streamline state regulatory approval. The move as announced “with only a vague news release.”

Spanberger’s office did not respond to Heartlander News’ request for comment.