Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) has had a rough few months. After telling voters that she would not move to redraw the Commonwealth’s congressional district lines, she won a decisive victory — then immediately went back on her word. The very first bill she signed into law as chief executive was to advance her party’s unconstitutional gerrymandering referendum.  

The ensuing battle resulted in a lopsided and costly propaganda campaign, followed by a strikingly narrow and pyrrhic victory that was promptly and properly invalidated as illegally administered by the state’s high court. This was precisely what her own lawyers had reportedly warned could happen, but she was bullied by other Richmond Democrats into proceeding with their partisan misadventure anyway. Meanwhile, Spanberger’s image as a centrist has been torn to shreds, as voters have soured on her job performance in record time.