The 2019 national-title run of Tony Bennett’s UVA Basketball team plays an important role in the political origin story of Abigail Spanberger.
“I developed, I think, an unlikely friendship, I will say, with a Republican from Texas, Chip Roy. If you don’t know him, Google him,” Spanberger told Stephen Colbert, during an appearance on “The Late Show” on Monday.
Colbert had just asked the governor-elect how she had developed the reputation for being one of the most bipartisan members of Congress during her six-year tenure in the U.S. House, representing a swath of Northern Virginia and Central Virginia.
Google the name Chip Roy, and you see that he’s the policy chair of the MAGA-dripping House Freedom Caucus, that he introduced legislation last year that would make it harder for married women to register to vote, that he voted against a House resolution to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
Solid dude there.
But Chip Roy is also a UVA alum – Class of 1994, which, hey, I’m UVA Class of 1994.
Abigail Spanberger is UVA Class of 2001.
“We have really very little in common politically. We agree on just about nothing. But we were both elected to Congress the same year. We both have the same birthday” – for the record, August 7 – “and we both went to UVA, and we were elected the year that UVA was doing very well in basketball. So, as we won the national championship, and as we were all excited – Wahoowa! – we said, Where can we work together?
“It turns out, just about nowhere was the answer,” Spanberger said, “with a notable exception, which is we both agreed that Members of Congress should not be able to trade stocks when they’re serving in Congress.”
The two co-authored the TRUST in Congress Act, which would require Members of Congress – as well as their spouses and dependent children – to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust during their tenure in Congress.
ICYMI
It hasn’t passed, because, I mean, come on, serving in elected office is about the opportunity for grifting for the bulk of those in DC these days.
But, hey, they tried.
The support that the two were able to get for their legislation came about, per Spanberger, “by the very nature of our differences.”
Basically, people on both sides of the aisle said, they’re working together?
That’s a big part of how Spanberger learned quickly that a Member of Congress can’t get anything done alone.
Her first term was the second half of the first term for Donald Trump in the White House; her third term was spent as a member of the minority party, after Republicans regained control of the House in the 2022 midterms.
Spanberger won’t have that limitation when she takes the oath of office as governor on Saturday; she has a 64-36 Democratic majority in the House of Delegates because of the blowout wins in the November elections, and a narrow 21-19 D majority in the State Senate.
ICYMI
Past Democratic governors – Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Terry McAuliffe, Ralph Northam – had to work with gerrymandered Republican majorities in the General Assembly to get their agendas into motion.
Spanberger will take the oath on Saturday with a resounding mandate – not only did her party dominate in the House of Delegates races, but she led a statewide sweep at the top of the ticket with a convincing 15-point win in the gubernatorial race.
Asked by Colbert what she thinks was the foundation of her win, Spanberger was quick with the answer:
“I think it’s pretty straightforward. I think it comes down to the fact that people want someone who is focused on the issues that keep them up at night,” Spanberger said. “That is, can they afford to live their life, keep their house, pay for their medicine? Are their kids getting a good education to set them up, are they safe in their communities? It’s really pretty straightforward.”
Trump invasion forces
Colbert asked Spanberger for her reaction to the “untenable situation” that the Trump administration has put governors of several blue states in, “having their states invaded by their own federal government against their wishes, sending National Guard troops from other states when they weren’t asked to do so.”
“I’m the incoming governor of Virginia, but I also began my career as a federal agent,” Spanberger said, citing her history as a postal inspector and then a CIA agent.
“I used to work narcotics and money-laundering cases. I carried a gun every day. I worked on task forces with local, state and federal police,” Spanberger said. “What I learned every single day in law enforcement is, your ability to do your job is built on trust, and what we are seeing day in and day, when people are going in wearing masks terrifying communities, is that they’re breaking down that trust, and it is actually impeding the ability to keep our community safe, to enforce the law.
“As governor, I will ensure that we are a place where, yes, we uphold the law, but people know that if they are a victim of a crime, or if they are a witness of a crime, or if they are a community member, that they are in a place where there is trust that is being built and not degraded day in and day out by the tactics we’re seeing.”
Follow-up from Colbert:
“Let’s just take these two scenarios. National Guard troops are sent from another state, say, Texas, to Virginia, or ICE was sent in at this level of force and seemingly just to harass and to instill fear. What response can you have as governor within Virginia law that is not superseded by federal law to actually protect the citizens of your state or the residents of your state?”
Spanberger:
“Well, at the end of the day, if there is an emergency in Virginia that requires the support of the Guard, first and foremost, we have an incredible Guard in Virginia, and it is up to the governor to bring forth a Virginia Guard to help our citizens. We do not need outside support, unless the governor is the one who makes that request.
“As the incoming governor of Virginia, I will make known to the Trump administration that we that we do not want them trying to sow fear, to sow division within our communities, and if there is a warrant, absolutely, if there is a warrant for someone’s arrest, there’s room for coordination between law enforcement agencies. But what we have seen in places like Minnesota, it is not meeting any end goal of making us safer.
“As someone who used to focus on counterterrorism cases when I was a CIA officer after my time in law enforcement, what really worries me is the fact that so many of our law enforcement capabilities are being pivoted away from investigating crimes and investigating potential threats that exist within our communities as they are leveraging people to pivot over towards sowing fear in communities.”
Personal bits
Colbert played a clip from Spanberger’s Election Night speech in which she admonished one of her three daughters for not cleaning her room.
“Here we go to my daughters, Claire, Charlotte and Catherine. You inspire me and motivate me every single day. I am lucky to be your mother. And Catherine, you did not clean your room today, as you promised me,” Spanberger said in the clip, as Catherine protested, “I’m working on it!”
“I love mom keeping it real, but I also love her saying I’m working on it,” Colbert said.
“I believe in accountability,” Spanberger said.
“Has this clip helped with that?” Colbert asked.
“Well, what has been delightful is, she comes home from school, or comes home from Girl Scouts, or comes home for all her activities, with a little bit of an attitude, because people in public are asking her, Have you cleaned your room?” Spanberger said.
***
Next up: Colbert noted how in Virginia, Spanberger will be addressed in public settings as “Her Excellency.”
“OK, that must be exciting to look forward to,” Colbert said. “Do you think you’re gonna get your family to do that?”
The answer there is endearing.
“We were at an event in Virginia a number of months before the election, huge, huge event, and the gentleman who was introducing me was so excited to say that, in just a few months, when we introduce her, everyone will stand and say ‘Her Excellency.’ And then there was a brief lull in the crowd, and you could hear a woman in the back say, I’m not doing that.
“It was my sister,” Spanberger said.
“Older sister, younger sister?” Colbert asked.
“My middle sister, making her opinion known to my mother, so, perhaps not at family holidays,” Spanberger said.
***
Finally: Colbert hit on the blast from Spanberger’s past involving how she was roommates during her time in Congress with Mikie Sherrill, who was elected governor of New Jersey in November, on the same day that Spanberger was elected governor in Virginia.
“What was she like as a roommate? Does she clean her bedroom?” Colbert asked.
“I’m not going to comment on that, but I will say she would leave dishes in the sink for an extended period of time. She would frequently burn things, too, when she would cook, and then leave it to soak,” Spanberger said.
“She was a wonderful, wonderful roommate, wonderful friend,” Spanberger said. “And you know, we really progressed, I think, from the point where we were getting our frozen meals from CVS, we really upgraded at one point during our time in Congress to frozen meals from Trader Joe’s. So, it felt like we’d arrived.”
Abigail Spanberger on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
