This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the official Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week, congressional leaders announced Thursday, elevating the first-term governor to one of her party’s most prominent national platforms.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Spanberger will give the rebuttal Tuesday, Feb. 24. They also announced that U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California will deliver the Spanish-language response.
“We are at a defining moment in our nation’s history,” Spanberger said in a statement Thursday.
“Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring. Next week, I look forward to laying out what these Americans expect and deserve — leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”
Jeffries described Spanberger as “a trusted public servant” who began her career “as a postal inspector and national security professional, protecting the country against our adversaries” before serving in Congress and ascending to the governor’s mansion.
“In November, she won the governorship in Virginia by the largest margin for a Democratic candidate in six decades,” Jeffries said.
He added that as Virginia’s 75th governor and “first woman ever elected to lead the Commonwealth,” Spanberger has focused on “lowering the high cost of living, saving healthcare from the relentless far-right assault and protecting the federal workforce so they can serve the American people without political interference.”
Jeffries also said Spanberger “stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who will lie, deflect and blame everyone but himself for his failed presidency on Tuesday evening,” and called her a leader who “embodies the best of America as a mother, community leader and dedicated public servant.”
Schumer said Spanberger “has always put service over politics — defending our national security and delivering real results for working families.”
He added that she understands Americans want “lower costs, safer communities, and a stronger democracy — not chaos and corruption,” and said she will outline “a clear path forward: lower everyday costs, protect healthcare, and defend the freedoms that define who we are as a nation.”
The Democratic response traditionally offers a counterpoint to Republican presidents’ addresses and is closely watched as a signal of the party’s priorities and messaging strategy.
Spanberger’s selection places her among a short list of Virginia Democrats who have delivered their party’s rebuttal to a State of the Union address in recent decades.
In 2006, then-Gov. Tim Kaine gave the Democratic response to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union.
Speaking from Richmond just weeks into his first term as governor, Kaine emphasized economic fairness, education and what Democrats described at the time as the need for a new direction in Iraq.
The following year, in 2007, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb delivered the Democratic response to Bush’s State of the Union address.
Webb, a Vietnam War veteran and former Navy secretary who had narrowly defeated Republican Sen. George Allen in 2006, used the rebuttal to criticize the administration’s handling of the Iraq War and to press for a shift in foreign policy and domestic priorities.
Since her election in November that swept all three statewide offices, Spanberger has quickly emerged as a defining figure in Democratic politics both in the commonwealth and nationally.
A lifelong public servant and former U.S. representative, Spanberger was sworn in Jan. 17 as Virginia’s 75th governor and the first woman ever to hold the office, a historic milestone for the state.
Spanberger grew up just outside Richmond and was deeply influenced by her family’s emphasis on service. After earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, she worked in federal law enforcement and intelligence — first as a U.S. Postal Inspection Service agent and later as a field officer with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Her pivot to electoral politics came in 2018, when she won a closely watched race for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District, flipping it blue.
In Washington, Spanberger built a reputation as a pragmatic, centrist legislator who often reached across the aisle and focused on local issues like economic development, veterans’ services and broadband access. That approach helped earn her three terms in the House before she set her sights on the Virginia governor’s office in 2025.
Since taking the oath, Spanberger has moved aggressively to advance her priorities in what has been a busy first month in office.
On her first day, she signed more than a half-dozen executive orders aimed at addressing economic pressures facing families, strengthening public education, expanding housing production and reviewing state agency policies on immigration enforcement.
Just two days after her inauguration, Spanberger delivered her first address to the Virginia General Assembly, urging lawmakers to pursue bipartisan solutions to affordability challenges while outlining a broad policy agenda for the year.
That speech underscored her dual focus on unity and pragmatic governance, even as the Democratic-led legislature takes up contentious issues ranging from reproductive rights to voting and redistricting.
Spanberger’s early actions reflect a governor intent on quickly reshaping the commonwealth’s policy direction and consolidating Democratic control after a 2025 sweep of the state’s executive offices and legislature.