Spanberger signals left bent after centrist campaign; GOP leader warns of ‘Fairfaxing the rest of VA'
Newly minted Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger campaigned as a pragmatic centrist, while critics said her day-one actions depict a very different four years the Old Dominion is about to experience.In...
By Fox News · Fox News
Newly minted Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger campaigned as a pragmatic centrist, while critics said her day-one actions depict a very different four years the Old Dominion is about to experience. In a flurry of executive orders after her inauguration, the Democrat rescinded ex-Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 287(g) order that instituted cooperation with ICE, and seized on broad affordability initiatives including housing regulation reviews that align with progressive approaches to zoning. Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Cumberland Gap, saw his razor-thin 2025 minority get slashed to 36-64 after November’s wave election that Spanberger also won. When asked about one of Spanberger’s key executive orders, establishing a "process for housing affordability ," and how critics warned what that may mean for intervention in local zoning matters, Kilgore said that when it comes down to it, "government’s not always the answer." FOX NEWS POLL: HOW SPANBERGER WON VIRGINIA GOVERNOR "What you have to do is allow the free market to go in and build the houses and get a rate of return. But a lot of bills that we're passing here now; a landlord-tenant [bill] would keep folks if they're not paying their rent [have] longer to come up with their rent, gives them all kinds of options there," Kilgore said. "When folks are investing money and they are losing money because they can't get folks out because they're not paying their rent, they're not going to invest in the Commonwealth." He criticized how Spanberger’s orders often created commissions or panels, remarking, " Virginia needs affordability now ; that’s what was campaigned on." SPANBERGER SAYS 'ABSOLUTELY NOT' TO USING ELECTION WINS TO JUSTIFY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STANCE "We're willing as a Republican caucus to [step] up right now. There are things we can do to make Virginia more affordable... We don't need a study. Let's work on it right now and address what we can." Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger for comment on…