The MeidasTouch Podcast - Gov Candidate Abigail Spanberger Rips MAGA GOP in Virginia

Episode Date: May 11, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Trump and MAGA leaders in Virginia getting lambasted for screwing up everything there and Meiselas interviews former VA Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger who is running for Governor of Virginia about her reaction to what is taking place. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. What in the world is going on in Virginia? The MAGA Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, as I call him, MAGA in a vest, has just vetoed two bills that would have guaranteed Virginians access to contraception, marking the second time that he's blocked efforts to protect birth control rights through state law. Not one, but two right there. House Bill 1716 and Senate Bill 1105, also known as the Virginia Right to Contraception Act, was passed by the Democratic-controlled

General Assembly earlier this year. The bills were designed to preserve access to contraceptives, such as birth control pills, IUDs, and emergency contraception, particularly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. And after it passed in the House and the Senate, the MAGA Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin dismissed the legislation and said, why do we need it? The Supreme Court ruled on this in 1965, in the Griswold case in 1972, and Eisenstadt be bared. And we trust the Supreme Court. It's not like they just overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision.

So we've got that coming out. And then it resurfaced that the MAGA Republican governor candidate in Virginia for the upcoming elections in November, Winsome Earl Sears, in her capacity as lieutenant governor, she wrote a formal objection to a bill that was eventually signed into law that was basically saying that she was morally against interracial marriages and same-sex marriages. The bill would have, and it did, was signed into law protecting interracial couples and same-sex marriages. And she was against that. Oh, yeah.

And then there was the Midas clip that went viral about Winsome Earl Sears, where she just doesn't get what you're going through. And here in this clip, she talks about how she doesn't understand why workers are that upset that they're getting fired. And she's like, you know, just get over it, Virginians. Just, dear Virginians, just get over it. Here, let's play this one. I think it's created by the Democratic Party of Virginia. They actually use our research. That's pretty cool.

New unemployment claims in Virginia are skyrocketing. Northern Virginia unemployment claims rose 7.1% in February. Over 53,000 people unemployed. Virginia families are dealing with the economic fallout. And what does Winsome Earl Sears have to say? So, if you've lost your job, and how many here has ever lost a job? Oh, you mean it's not unusual? It happens to everybody all the time?

Okay. And the media is making it out to be this huge huge thing and i don't understand why yeah yikes on that one let's bring in the democratic candidate for governor of virginia abigail spanberger also former congresswoman from virginia and former intelligence officer what are we What were we looking at there? I guess we'll start in reverse order. I mean, number one, you have the MAGA Republican candidate saying, who cares if you lose your jobs? It's not a big deal. Now, we'll rewind. Let's start with that one. Wow. Well, Virginians want and deserve a governor who is going to stand up for them. We have more than 320,000 federal employees here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And we know that across our communities, we are just facing dire, dire

impact as people are losing their jobs, as people are worried that they might lose their jobs. And importantly, when you have such a density of population of federal employees and federal employment, as we do in Northern Virginia and in Hampton Roads, we have entire economies of contracting companies and of local restaurants and local small businesses that are used to relying on their community for patronage and for business. And that means that if you have Virginians who are losing their jobs because of these doge cuts, because of the choices of this administration,

that they're not taking their families out to dinner. They're not going to the local restaurant down the street. And the economic impact is enormous. Just recently, Old Dominion University put out an estimate that the impact last year of the federal workforce in Virginia was $44 billion in economic output to what it added to the state. And so the attack on the federal workforce, sure, it's about the people who are losing their jobs and losing their livelihoods and their commitment. And we're talking nurses at the VA and researchers at the NIH. But we are also talking about the larger economy in Virginia. And so it's just, it's so

out of touch with everything I am hearing when I travel across the Commonwealth, because we are all impacted here in Virginia by these cuts, by the attack on the federal workforce. And the fact that she doesn't even understand that is just stunning. So you have the MAGA Republican candidate, Winsome Earl Sears. You have the MAGA Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin. And just at like a human level for me, the level of gaslighting coming out from them and the level of just not having the back of Virginians. Like to me, I don't even know what they think their job is. It's like, it'd be like a coach of a sports team rooting against their team. And then like when you call timeout and you're in the huddle, like you just start

punching your team and like breaking their legs and basically saying everybody's broken their leg before you're whining that your leg just got broken. Come on. Everyone breaks their leg. And it's like, why? Why are you just normalizing at a basic level cruelty to Europe, to the people living in Virginia? And being so dismissive, right? So the lieutenant governor, my opponent, and our governor, they have pushed out a website. They have given advice saying that people should go to LinkedIn and go to Indeed to find new jobs. And they've given, like literally at a press conference, they talked about how, you know, you should look for keywords in job advertisements and put those in your cover letter. And again, it just doesn't even begin to understand the reality of what's

happening in Virginia. If you worked in international aid and development, you're not just going to, you know, transfer over to a new role. If you were a nurse at the VA and you have devoted yourself to providing healthcare to our nation's veterans, but you work at the VA because you believe in it and the dismissive nature that they are taking with these layoffs is outrageous. But the fact that they are not even acknowledging the impact on our economy is just unbelievable. It's stunning, actually. Talk about the veto of this right to contraception, because many people were saying after Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, the next thing that the MAGA Republicans are coming for is contraception.

So it seems here, you know, the Democratic-led assembly was just like, OK, well, look, trust but verify. OK, you know, at the end of the day, sure, there are Supreme Court rulings from 1970 and 1960s on this, but so was Roe v. Wade. And you all promised us Roe v. Wade was never going to get overturned, that it was super precedent. So here we go. Let's just mine it. Let's say that it's, let's just put it in law so we can never go back on it. Here it is. And then the fact that they, that the MAGA Republicans, you know, led by Youngkin, you know, vetoed that, you know, it's like, what are we where we live? I mean, like it is I mean, is is Virginia now, you know, under Youngkin like the Taliban? I mean, seriously, what are we like? What are we talking about? And why is it that politicians think they get to legislate or dictate whether you can go out and get contraception?

It's really unbelievable. And then to say, oh, this isn't necessary because the Griswold decision makes clear that one has the right to purchase or to obtain birth control. Well, yes, but we now know, like clearly, that when people say, oh, it's settled case law, that if there are motivated people who want to take rights away, they can find a way. And so anyone who says, okay, well, you know, Griswold, the right to contraception exists at the federal level because of a Supreme Court ruling,

well, then you shouldn't mind just making sure, just putting that bill into place at the state level. And so, you know, this is the second year in a row that the governor has vetoed this legislation. Notably, my opponent voted against it. And, you know, looking towards the future, I presume that the General Assembly is going to try again to pass this bill next year. And, you know, my opponent is running for governor now. She voted against it. We know that. But if she were to be governor, would she sign this bill into law or would she join Governor Youngkin in vetoing it? Because I know one thing for sure. As governor, when this bill gets to my desk, I will sign it.

I think it's pretty clear. I mean, my opinion is if she's vetoing protections on interracial marriage and same-sex marriage, something leads me to believe she finds that morally objectable, leads me to believe that there's a line of thinking there along the lines of vetoing the right to contraception. All right, finally, Congresswoman Spanberg, let me ask you this. What areas do you think are not getting enough attention that you're focused on as you're out there shaking hands, you're speaking to people? What do you think, with the huge audience that we have, that they need to be hearing about what's happening in Virginia?

Well, Virginia is a 2025 race. I will be on the ballot this November. And importantly, while we've talked about some of the issues that are important here in Virginia and the threats to the federal workforce, it is an issue everywhere across the country. But Virginia is particularly impacted. What we are seeing at the national level, at the federal level, is such a distraction from the everyday challenges that Virginians certainly are feeling and are facing. Everywhere I travel across Virginia, I hear about the challenges of affordability. You know, people are working multiple jobs. They are trying to make ends meet. And yet, it is difficult to walk into the grocery store and buy everything on your list without wondering and trying to do the math in advance. Is that credit card going to be maxed out? Can you actually afford that dozen of eggs? Right. Which cereal should you get for the kids? Because,, oh man, those prices keep going up. Or if you're starting a family and you want to put down roots and you want to buy a house,

can you even buy a house in Virginia? Are you priced out of the market? Can you live in the place where you want to live? And while there is all this chaos at the federal level, while we see attack after attack from this administration, across the Commonwealth, Virginians want a governor who's going to put them first. They want a governor who is going to focus on actually addressing issues of affordability in our health care and in our housing market. They want a governor who's going to recognize that the strength of our public schools is what creates opportunity for their kids into the future. I'm a product of Virginia public schools,

both as a kid and then from the University of Virginia, a proud public university in our Commonwealth. I've got three kids in public school here in Virginia, elementary, middle, and high school. And so I think what I want people to know is that in Virginia, we are a bellwether state, right? We are the first ones this year. We have a chance to flip our governorship.

We currently have a Republican governor. We currently have a Republican lieutenant governor. And we currently have a Republican attorney general. All three of those positions are elected separately this November. And so we have a chance to flip three statewide seats. We have a chance to demonstrate, certainly here in Virginia, that a governor that they elect

will focus on the issues that matter to them, that will focus on standing up for our Commonwealth. But importantly, the rest of the country will get to see what it is that we achieve here. And I hope that, well, I know that we will set a good example because in addition to those three statewide seats, we also have 100 seats in the House of Delegates up for election this year, all 100. We currently have a Democratic majority of 51. And we know this year with solid candidates running across Virginia, that we can expand our majority and we can send a message to the rest of the country about the fact that while we are facing these challenges, while things feel awful and chaotic, we absolutely can flip seats and win seats. We're going to do it in Virginia this November,

and we look forward to seeing the rest of the country follow our very, very good example. Where can people find out more about the campaign? You can visit my website at abigalespanberger.com. Thank you so much. We encourage people to come. You can sign up to volunteer from afar. Certainly every bit of support helps, and I'm just grateful that we can set that good example for the rest of the country. And in doing so, really do right by our fellow Virginians here in the Commonwealth. I want to remind our viewers and listeners that is this year. I know you think in midterms, but 2025 is the governor's election in Virginia this November.

So check it out. Thank you so much. Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger. Thank you.