Spanberger calls out angry, divisive politics during UR visit

U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger said that in the early 2000s, she “endeavored to be one of the least interesting people in the room” while working for the CIA. But since then, Spanberger has done quite the opposite – representing Virginia’s 7th District in Congress and most recently launching a bid to become the commonwealth’s next governor. 

Spanberger shared stories from her first five years in Congress, policy goals and her path to the U.S Capitol during a 1 Million Cups entrepreneurship discussion at the University of Richmond on Wednesday.

Before running for Congress, Spanberger worked for the CIA as an agent. She said she decided to run for office after witnessing what she said was “real division” in American politics and a lack of people using data to inform their decisions.

“I really thought that I wanted to see something different in what we had in representation,” she said. “That was my ultimate motivation to run.”

Spanberger, whose district includes much of central and northern Virginia, passed the five-year mark on her time in Congress this year. Since her start, Spanberger has gotten to know her colleagues and shared a bit about her interactions with them, including stories of friendships with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and current Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

“Congresspeople have some funny, funny quirks,” Spanberger said.

She said that some congresspeople don’t match their public personas behind closed doors.

“Even some of the most bombastic people, who on television seem like they might be truly awful at times, who [are] really just very truly friendly people in person,” she said.

Spanberger discussed the importance of “pragmatic” policymaking and opposed the apparent division of today’s politics.

“We should not accept how divisive and angry politics can be,” Spanberger said. “It’s entirely intentional that politics has gotten to such a fever pitch place where a lot of people just opt out.” 

She said that people choosing to opt out of discussing and participating in politics altogether are “bad for the fabric of the country.”

The 1 Million Cups entrepreneurship discussion is a weekly series hosted to “promote entrepreneurship through connections and sharing of ideas and experiences,” Mickey Quiñones, dean of the UR Robins School of Business, said in an opening speech.

“Government plays a big role in setting the conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish,” Quiñones said.

Spanberger said that much of her economic development work is focused on the specific needs of the 7th District’s community. She said that one topic at hand was government contracting with the federal government. Compared to other states, Virginia is one of the most popular for government contracts.

According to Dale Fickett, an entrepreneurship instructor at UR who interviewed Spanberger on stage, Virginia has structural advantages in development because of its geography and access to broadband internet and policymakers on both the state and federal level.

“As a representative of Virginia,” Spanberger said. “I own and recognize you have to have a bias for your state otherwise you’re probably not doing your job correctly.”

Ashton Bear, chair of the UR College Democrats, said she appreciated Spanberger’s “very sophisticated perspective on the communities she represents.”

Virginia resident Heather McDonough was also in attendance.

“I love how prepared and organized [Spanberger] is when it comes to policy making,” McDonough said. “I think she really learned about needs of different communities.”

Contact City & State Editor Nick Mossman at nick.mossman@richmond.edu