Virginia Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger said Sunday the federal government must reopen after her election, saying state residents want it to.
Spanberger is one of several candidates to give the Democratic Party wind in its sails after the elections, including her own victory of about 15% against Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Election Day took place five weeks into the government shutdown, which is currently the longest in U.S. history, on its 40th day on Sunday.
CBS News’s Margaret Brennan asked if Spanberger’s win is “permission to hold the line in Congress” in its shutdown negotiations, to which she replied, “Absolutely not.”
“My campaign across the past two years has been focused on hearing the challenges that people are facing all across Virginia. It’s rising cost in healthcare, housing, energy, and it’s the chaos coming out of Washington that has been impacting Virginians so severely, beginning with the DOGE efforts, of course, continuing with chaotic trade policies, and now in this government shutdown,” Spanberger said on CBS News’s Face the Nation.
“Virginians need to and Virginians want to see the government reopen, and my expectation is that we will see a Congress, a Senate, and ultimately a president driving us in that direction,” Spanberger said.
Brennan also asked Spanberger if Democrats should agree to reopen the government and continue the debate over healthcare afterward. Spanberger responded by saying President Donald Trump should demonstrate “leadership” by endeavoring to get through any negotiations, “whether it’s before or after.”
Last month, Spanberger said she would encourage “everyone” across party lines to end the shutdown when asked if she would encourage Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) to end it.
OFF THE ROAD AND UP IN FLAMES: INSIDE WINSOME EARLE-SEARS’S LOSING CAMPAIGN
Healthcare is a major point of disagreement amid the government shutdown after Senate Democrats on Oct. 1 blocked a House-passed continuing resolution to keep the government open, as it did not contain provisions extending Obamacare subsidies. The president is accusing Democrats of systemic hypocrisy for conditioning reopening the government on a one-year extension of pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, arguing insurance companies, not consumers, are benefiting the most from the federal healthcare program.
One solution Trump is proposing is to have money go “directly” to the public to purchase better healthcare, and he said, “enrichment of Health Insurance companies must stop.”
