Don’t Spanberger North Carolina

From: Jessica Anderson, President of Sentinel Action Fund

Having lived in both North Carolina and Virginia, I feel uniquely qualified to say this: Don’t Spanberger North Carolina. 

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger’s blatant reversal on the state’s redistricting referendum, tax hikes and social re-engineering not only says a lot about her bait-and-switch gubernatorial campaign, but it also sends a warning to neighboring North Carolina voters. The so-called “centrist” Democrats running today are not who they appear to be. Democrats have pioneered a new strategy: run as moderates, govern as extremists.

Abigail Spanberger is Virginia’s newest Democratic Governor. Like North Carolina Democrat Roy Cooper, Spanberger worked overtime on the campaign trail to appear as a centrist. Her television ads featured her talking about her career of public service and lowering the cost of living, housing, and energy. Her campaign website even labeled her as “the most bipartisan Member of Congress from Virginia.” All things that probably sounded good to your average Virginia Democrat or independent voter. Unfortunately for those voters, these promises were quickly broken.

First, look at the current redistricting debate. During her campaign, Spanberger said she had “no plans” to redistrict Virginia. After she was sworn in, however, she signed the legislation that put in motion a hyper-partisan gerrymander. Not only has she now endorsed the redistricting referendum that would bring the 6-5 Democrat to Republican representation in Congress to instead favor Democrats 10-1, but she also starred in a seven-figure ad urging Virginians to support it. It was a pretty stunning reversal from her 2019 comments calling “gerrymandering detrimental to our democracy.” Former President Barack Obama also starred in his own ad for redistricting – more evidence that this is a power play from DC Democrats and not about what is good for Virginians.

This complete policy reversal is one in a growing list of reversals for Governor Spanberger. Though she campaigned on lowering costs, Governor Spanberger has not publicly opposed any of the extreme new tax proposals put forth by Virginia Democrats. They are making life more expensive with new taxes on gym memberships, home repairs, mental counseling, and vehicle repairs — if you are trying to improve your life, Democrats want to tax it! Though she campaigned on lowering energy costs, Governor Spanberger announced a return to the “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,” which raises electricity rates by $500 million every year. So much for affordability.

Just a few years after Virginia parents voted overwhelmingly to protect parental rights, Governor Spanberger could not answer whether she thought men should be allowed in our daughters’ locker rooms. After the landslide 2024 election during which voters elected President Trump to secure the border, Governor Spanberger cut ties with ICE and refused to honor an ICE detainer on an illegal immigrant who murdered a Fairfax County woman.

Voters beware: All of these extreme policies could be coming to North Carolina next. Democrat Roy Cooper is already taking a page out of Governor Spanberger’s playbook in his bid for the U.S. Senate, campaigning as a moderate centrist. 

Unlike in Virginia, North Carolinians still have time to learn the truth about Cooper’s record and where  he really stands on issues like public safety, taxes and parental rights.

First, Roy Cooper’s soft-on-crime record was exposed following the tragic murder of Iryna Zarutska on the Charlotte light rail. Zarutska, only 23 years old, was stabbed repeatedly by a violent offender who was arrested and released 14 times prior to committing this murder. Later, it was revealed that then-Governor Roy Cooper oversaw a prison release of 3,500 inmates – potentially even including Zarutska’s murderer. Similar to Spanberger in Virginia, Roy Cooper also vetoed legislation to require sheriffs to honor ICE detainers. On the campaign trail, Cooper has all but ignored the crime crisis he created in North Carolina. In fact, he has dodged reporters’ questions about the impact of his policies.

On parental rights and fairness in sports, his extreme record speaks for itself. As Governor, he vetoed the Fairness in Sports Act, legislation to protect women and girls from being forced to compete against men in sports. At the same time, he also vetoed a parental bill of rights, school choice legislation, and a bill to protect minors from experimental gender mutilation surgeries.

Some North Carolinians might not remember all of these radical moves from Governor Cooper – but that is only because Republicans had a supermajority that allowed them to override many of Governor Cooper’s vetoes. Even though Republicans were able to keep the state moving in the right direction at the state legislature level, Governor Cooper was still not able to hide his true positions on the issues that matter to North Carolina families. Do not doubt he would bring these same positions to the U.S. Senate.

I currently reside in Virginia with my family, but I became first involved in grassroots in North Carolina, working to mobilize grassroots Americans and North Carolina families. During that time, we built a coalition that sent home so-called blue-dog Democrats from the U.S. House and shored up a conservative agenda in the state’s General Assembly. We actively worked to protect the Old North State from radical Leftists like Roy Cooper who were wolves in sheep’s clothing. Now, as a Virginia mom, I will give a warning to North Carolina voters: Don’t Spanberger your state.

Do not let Roy Cooper use the same Spanberger playbook to campaign as a moderate and legislate as a radical. In fact, in today’s Democrat Party, there is no such thing as a moderate anymore. Current Democrat leadership has proven that they are only moving in one direction, and that is further to the Left where they will take orders from radicals like Zohran Mamdani or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Thankfully, there is an alternative in North Carolina with Senate candidate, Michael Whatley. A conservative fighter who will advance the priorities North Carolina cares about – he will help President Trump fully implement his economic agenda, he will support law enforcement, and he will work on behalf of all North Carolinians. This is a critically important election for North Carolina, and for the future of the U.S. Senate. It is up to North Carolina to heed the warnings from Virginia, do the right thing, and elect Michael Whatley this November.

Jessica Anderson is the President of Sentinel Action Fund, a conservative Super PAC focused on turning out absentee, early-vote, and “day of” voters.