‘I have priorities’: Virginia Gov.-elect Spanberger setting agenda for office

A month since Democrat Abigail Spanberger was elected Virginia’s first female governor by a resounding 15-point margin, she is deep into transition plans and setting an agenda for her first months in office.

Spanberger told News4 she’s already working on her inaugural address, but perhaps more important than what she says on the Capitol steps on Jan. 17 will be her first executive orders.

She didn’t wait for inauguration to assert herself in one area: pushing back against the Trump administration’s action against the University of Virginia and George Mason University that caused UVA’s president to step down. She asked UVA’s Board of Visitors to stop its search for a new president until her board appointees fill empty slots.

“And so as governor, day one, I will make appointments for the open seats that exist,” Spanberger said.

“In order to pull us back from this time where the university boards have become kind of a bit of a lightning rod and politicized,” she said.

She wouldn’t say whether she will rescind all of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s orders, but one that deputizes some Virginia State Police officers to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be gone. She said she’s not using state money for community public safety.

“It’s utilizing those resources, both in terms of people and local dollars, to do the administrative actions of the federal government,” she said.

Spanberger, who spent years in law enforcement, said state police should continue to partner with the feds when there are criminal search and arrest warrants.

Another Youngkin policy that created controversy and division in Northern Virginia school districts is the so-called model policy he initiated on the treatment of transgender students. Spanberger said she’s changing that, too.

“Any time policies specific to the health and safety of kids in their schools becomes a lightning rod is a time for us to revisit how we are addressing those policies,” she said, adding, “But do so methodically and thoughtfully.”

The governor-elect made it clear to News4 the keystone issue in her campaign — affordability — will be her primary focus. And she’ll be working with the benefit of a Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

When it comes to housing costs, for instance, Spanberger said she wants to find a way to help local governments preserve already affordable housing instead of losing it to investors who would buy it and jack up rents.

“And as an example, ensuring that localities that recognize the real importance of keeping that federally backed affordable housing available, giving them the first right of refusal to ensure that the opportunity to keep affordable housing affordable housing,” she said.

Utility costs and the impact of data centers on what Virginians are paying is another issue to address.

“Data centers, large-scale energy users need to pay their fair share of the energy that they are taking and utilizing here within the commonwealth,” Spanberger said.

As for the impact of data centers on neighborhoods, she favors state officials providing best practices for communities to follow but not mandates on how data centers can be constructed.

Spanberger’s agenda is tempered by a worsening financial picture for the commonwealth, as hundreds of millions in federal funds are lost.

“So, what I would say to Virginians is that we are moving into a time where we will be in a more difficult fiscal space,” she said.

Spanberger warned of tough choices ahead.

“Ultimately, my message to Virginia voters is I have priorities,” she said. “They include balance our budget, which is constitutionally required, keep our AAA bond rating, and make investments in the health and the education and the safety of our Virginia communities.”

And one more goal is trying to deliver on her transition team’s theme – United for Virginia’s Future – by keeping Virginians together during some of the nation’s most divisive times.