Spanberger would save families money—provide more effective government

By Michael Zuckerman

While I admire and firmly support Abigail Spanberger’s forward leaning, detailed platform—to lower costs of healthcare, housing, and energy—it seems equally important that her candidacy promises to restore professional governance, ending the hazardous chaos generated by the grave political whims of the MAGA movement trickling down from Donald Trump’s unbridled childish need for authoritarian control.

Her opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, has made clear from the get-go that there won’t be a hint of daylight between her administration and Trump’s crushing, chaotic policies.

So, it seems, ironically, time has come for Democrats to adopt a “Don’t Tread on Me” philosophy:

Don’t make it more difficult for me and others to vote

Don’t tell women what established medical procedures they can have

Don’t tell us who we can and can’t love or marry

Don’t persecute free speech—including satire—just because it may hurt someone’s feelings or be critical of government policies

Don’t put troops on the streets of cities, especially those that are already successfully enjoying the lowest violent crime rates in decades

Don’t detain people merely because they aren’t Caucasian, even if the Supreme Court says it’s OK.

Don’t continue to allow gun violence to be the number one cause of childhood death in America

Don’t eliminate healthcare for the most vulnerable among us as a way of paying for tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, including billionaires (whose numbers have doubled from 540 to more than 1,100 since Trump’s tax breaks for the wealthy took effect, according to the Wall Street Journal)

Don’t continue to ignore the seemingly endless stream of (provable) lies told by MAGA/Trump (according to anyone paying attention) to distract from the truth about Epstein, about vaccines, about climate change, about antisemitism on campuses, etc.

Don’t make it more difficult for me and my family to obtain vaccines.

Speaking of vaccines, I recently had my annual Medicare physical and, despite RFK Jr’s insisting during his Senate testimony that no one needed a prescription to get a COVID vaccine, my doctor assured me that I needed a prescription to get a COVID vaccine. That was Sept. 9. On Sept. 10, the Virginia Department of Health finally got around to approving the vaccine without a prescription for those of us over 65. 

Meanwhile, access to the COVID vaccine for young children is still adrift in uncertainty, arising from RFK Jr’s vaccine dictates. 

Then, late last week, RFK Jr’s vaccine panel voted to “not recommend” that anyone get the vaccine, which observers on both sides of the issue agree is likely to cause further confusion. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that, as a result of the “not recommend” vote, it was now uncertain if all insurance companies would cover the vaccine.

This approach to policy making threatens public wellbeing. Given another few years of this healthcare turmoil under an Earle-Sears’ administration playing lapdog to Trump, we can anticipate innocent people dying. It’s not that every vaccine should be mandatory; it’s that any vaccine deemed sound enough to be made available should be accessible without irrationally secret and complicated procedures.

The stumbling indecision and bad decisions being made in service to MAGA won’t be in play during a Spanberger administration. As a former law enforcement officer, a CIA officer and member of Congress noted for her ability to work with those from opposing parties, Spanberger can bring sanity to this process. 

Earle-Sears, on the other hand, has made it abundantly clear that she intends to govern in the mold of Youngkin and Trump.

In fact, Earle-Sears’ campaign is relying on the same old rabbit-in-the-hat trick that Youngkin used to bamboozle concerned citizens into voting for him four years ago.

Earle-Sears on her website and in her advertising is laser focused on which bathrooms our public-school students are using, what gender they identify with and denigrating trans youngsters. Youngkin danced to the same tune four years ago and guess what: Nothing Has Changed. Why? Because local school boards make those policies, not the governor’s office. So, do you really think that she is going to be able to wave a magic wand and, presto change-o, bring about new policies that four years of Youngkin could not?

Earle-Sears is also promoting plans to slash spending on public education by a third, while Spanberger is proposing to improve public education, by “investing in our schools” by paying teachers a living wage and “ensuring that our kids have strong school building surrounding them.”

Conservative estimates place the number of federal jobs lost in the DOGE purges of 2025 at 7,800 in Virginia. And the Big Beautiful Bill has stripped about $26 billion in Medicaid from the state, leaving roughly 350,000 Virginians without healthcare and at least six rural hospitals expected to close.

“That’s an impact you cannot just make up,” says Spanberger, whose website presents innovative changes to lower the cost of pharmaceuticals, improve low-cost access to medical treatment, and make housing and energy more affordable.

Spanberger’s proposals can be found in a professionally vetted, detailed blueprint [https://abigailspanberger.com/issue/abigails-affordable-virginia-plan/] designed to ameliorate the damage done by Trump, and Republicans in Congress.

And, with the 2026 mid-term elections little more than a year away, it is vitally important that we protect Virginians’ right to free and fair elections. 

Trump and his enablers have made it abundantly clear that they are looking for ways to disenfranchise Democratic voters. Youngkin’s appointees to the Loudoun County Board of Election, have already eliminated Sunday voting, which many voters, particularly Democrats who find it difficult to get to the polls during the work week relied upon. 

And, deeply troubling, Trump has recently called for eliminating mail-in ballots, early voting and drop-off ballot boxes.

For all of these reasons it is imperative that voters turn out on November 4 for Spanberger.

Michael Zuckerman is an author and freelance writer, retired investigative journalist, a former Washington Editor at USA Today and adjunct Professor of Journalism at GWU.