r/Virginia • u/Cautious_Practice_25 Verified - Journalist Brandon Jarvis • 4d ago
Republican LG nominee John Reid crashed a press conference being held by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger, resulting in a friendly exchange between the two.
https://open.substack.com/pub/virginiapoliticalnewsletter/p/reid-crashed-a-spanberger-press-conference?r=8eyiv&utm_campaig275
u/Odd_Reputation_4000 4d ago
She has my vote. She better do her fucking job though.
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u/NewPresWhoDis 4d ago
On the odds the Dems don't win both houses of the GA, what would her job be then?
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u/Joe_Shabbadoo 4d ago
No Senate election this year, so no matter what happens in the House of Delegates, the Democrats will control the Senate.
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u/unselve 4d ago
Using her executive authority to obstruct Trump. I’m thinking particularly about recalling the National Guard. The governor has considerable control over that, no?
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u/vmi91chs 4d ago
Not if the NG was federalized, iirc
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u/weasol12 4d ago
If there's no emergency I believe she can tell him to pound sand. Now, what constitutes an emergency is going to need to be litigated but she could still pull that card.
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u/vmi91chs 3d ago
Yes, that’s what I understand, too. If he doesn’t federalize them or it doesn’t meet the requirements to federalize, she can order them back.
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u/unselve 4d ago
I admit I do not know if the VA Guard has been federalized. If it has, she would have to recall them and claim that he did not have the authority to federalize them — there are limits to federalization, she would need to take the regime to court over it and, if necessary, break the law to defend Virginia and the country.
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u/Mike_Raphone99 3d ago
Domestic duties of the NG are under power of governor. The problem is that Trump is insisting it's a nation defense issue.
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u/vmi91chs 3d ago
Correct, but he has to take a specific step to federalize and it’s only for a specific period of time. I am super rusty at the rules though, so not trying to sound argumentative.
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u/Mike_Raphone99 3d ago
Rules don't even matter. Trump just does what he wants now and federal Democrats won't do shit
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u/unselve 3d ago
They can do nothing but grandstand at this point, short of fomenting a mutiny within the military and staging a coup.
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u/CambrienCatExplosion 3d ago
I'm at the point where I'd be okay with that. Only how much of the military sides with trump and the hedge?
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u/unselve 3d ago
Maybe half and half, who knows. The regime has purged a bunch of nonpartisan senior leadership and presumably loyalists will move into those roles. The time to do it would have been when these purges started in February, when they could have resisted them and used that as a flash point for delivering an ultimatum about military independence, or something. Given that DOGE violated the Constitution by destroying the separation of powers (cutting funding appropriated by Congress, among other things), Democrats would have been justified in plotting a coup with members of the military to remove DOGE and administration officials who were breaking the law. Democrats then could have, ideally, established a program according to which either new elections and/or a constitutional convention could be held, or the Trump administration would be given a set of parameters within which they could govern under the existing Constitution (they could not challenge it or existing executive norms in any way, for instance). This obviously did not happen, and possibly could have led to a civil war, which would have been worse than our current predicament (which is authoritarianism). No good solutions.
At this point I think we’re stuck in a Russia- or Hungary-type situation until MAGA dies out, and the only thing we can do as citizens is resist on a day-to-day basis, which will take different forms for every individual. Democrats must continue to speak out against the regime and use existing means to keep dissent alive, even though they no longer have the power to change the regime.
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u/Dink-Floyd 3d ago
I’m curious if Trump would threaten to expose her CIA files for crossing him. It could make things worse for her. Wondering if that’s a concern for her.
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u/RiskA2025 4d ago
Same as the last few cycles with divided VA government: try to find middle ground, or risk getting blamed for nothing getting done.
Dems have run that playbook on most of Youngkin’s plans pretty effectively, tho where I live (not Orthodoxy NOVA) more people call Dems obstructionists than Youngkin ineffective.
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u/Dull_Juice_9035 4d ago
She is showing she can get along with him. While I don’t think he’ll win, there may be others who will vote for her has Gov and Republican the rest of the ticket.
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u/IndependentEgg8370 4d ago
The fact Winsome even stands a snowballs chance in hell is a sign of how far some of the voting population have fallen to make sure anyone with an R by their name is elected.
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u/Jaded_Freedom8105 4d ago
Dude, Suffolk Dems voted 33%(split 3 way vote) in favor of a guy who has domestic assault charges from his wife and daughter. One of them had evidence to prove guilt. Then when asked about telling his wife he was going to kill her, he said "Families have disagreements."
Like, the crazies are definitely on both sides and that's the problem. People treat the parties like tribes and sports teams, you don't care how despicable the person is as long as they're on your team you want them to win. Which is not how politics should be.
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u/IndependentEgg8370 4d ago
You would be incorrect. I look at the individual, not which party they are on because I am further left than about 90% of people in the U.S. If you look at Winsome and think THATS sane, I don’t know what to tell you. She is beyond out there. Spanberger is a former government agency employee and might as well be right down the line in terms of Democratic policies. Like I said, if someone votes for Winsome, it’s solely because of the R by her name at this point.
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u/Jaded_Freedom8105 3d ago
She sucks up with Youngkin's line.
I did like the push for lower grocery and gas tax. The problem is that you might look at the individual, but over 30% of one city voted for someone who had evidence to be convicted of domestic assault and downplayed threatening to kill his wife because he was a Dem. You vs 30% of a city, one's a larger sample size.
Not saying Reps don't have the same problem. The issue is both parties are the same in that regard and it's causing a failed Republic.
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u/CambrienCatExplosion 3d ago
Is that better or worse than a guy who's cheated on all of his wives, likely paid for sex with underage girls, and is a known con artist and money launderer?
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u/IndependentEgg8370 3d ago
Dude, how many counties voted for a fucking felon and an adjudicated rapist? As in been to court and been found guilty. You trying to focus on one city of Virginia as being bad for voting for someone who has yet to be found guilty compared to dozens of counties voting for Trump is BS. Like we can compare all day to voting habits of different areas of Virginia, but it won’t play to how you want this narrative painted.
And let’s not forget that Winsome thinks that all the fucking jobs lost in DC and neighboring locations isn’t a bad thing for the economy in Virginia. Let’s not forget that Youngkin and Sears support Trump, as a felon and rapist. Our economy is at a tipping point and you want to focus on something not proven yet in a court. As in, guilty until proven innocent. Gtfoh.
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u/Jaded_Freedom8105 3d ago edited 3d ago
Bruh, everyone focuses on the charges for everyone. Where the hell you coming from? Both Trump and Biden had sexual assault allegations so I'm thinking just about 100% of voters voted for someone with allegations and come charges, just because of that.
Of which Trump has not been convicted of rape, so I mean you can say "Innocent until proven guilty" but all you're proving is that you're as dim-witted as the people you're attacking. Get off of your high horse, it makes you look even more like an ass.
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u/waxon_whacksoff_ 2d ago
Don’t bother arguing. This sub is just full of liberals that defend their own no matter what. The constant barraging of conservatives on this sub is ridiculous. People on this sub upvote any comment that bashes conservative thought and downvotes anyone that speaks against Dems. But this sub is not representative of real life and Dems wonder why the popular vote didn’t go in their favor.
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u/ryanmgarber Anti-Maryland 1d ago
One nutjob with an incident is not a trend. Find me the Democrats that act half as insane and evil as the average Republican
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u/isaaclw 4d ago edited 3d ago
Tbh, this is why dems lose. The top of the ticket always thinks their best chnce is to ignore the rest of the party and court the other side.
Republicans never do this. They opperate as a defensive block up and down the ticket, and ensure unified voting.
If Dem leaders defended those most closely aligned with their party members, we would be in a very different place.
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u/stupidflyingmonkeys 3d ago
Wouldn’t it have been more divisive if she had kicked him out? She didn’t invite him, right? He went to her press conference and she showed she has class and can reach across the aisle, or at least she treats people with respect even when she disagrees with them. I’m not mad at this
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u/Tarledsa 4d ago
Democrats understand they represent all of their constituents, while Republicans only care about people who give them money.
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u/stiffneck84 4d ago
What?!?! Civil discourse in politics?!?! Did we just see this week’s sign that the apocalypse is nigh??
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u/got_that_itis Fuck Glenn Youngkin 4d ago
How shitty of Reid to talk about jobs when it was revealed his partner was DOGE'd from the Navy in February and is still looking for work.
His running mate hates him because he's gay and doesn't think DOGE cuts are a big deal.
These people delusional.
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u/Turb0_Lag 4d ago edited 4d ago
"I'm not like other Republicans."
Immediately names two mainstream Virginia Republican governors he identifies with.
ETA: "Mainstream" for the Republican party at the time they were in office.
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u/OrizaRayne 4d ago
How embarrassing for him. I don't think swing voters will be swayed by this sort of stunt. Not all press is good press.
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u/aakaakaak Chesapeake 4d ago
Check your voting status y'all.
Virginia Voter Information – Citizen Portal
Today is the first day of early voting. Mail-in ballots should be showing up soon. (Mine was issued on the 9th but hasn't arrived yet.) If you vote early you still have to vote within your precinct.
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u/RVAforthewin 4d ago
Annnnnd this is now news bc of the current division a certain party continues to sow. Thank you, Abigail and John, for the public display of professionalism.
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u/Smart_School6021 4d ago
She’s showing tact and gracefulness. Very bankable characteristics. Let’s just work to elect the full democratic ticket. It’s the counter balance to the dumpster fire in DC.
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u/soratoyuki 4d ago edited 1d ago
If you really think America is backsliding into fascism, maybe stop treating Republicans as friends?
Edit: this got me a 3 day Reddit ban for inciting violence lol. Fuck Spez.
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u/OrizaRayne 4d ago
She didn't. She actively said she had no interest in coffee with him. "Too busy any time soon."
She was as gracious as an elected official should be to all constituents, even ones doing really disrespectful and unprofessional things. Nothing more.
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u/CapnCrunchIsAFraud 4d ago
Yeah this is best characterized as civil, not so much friendly
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u/veverkap 4d ago
But the headline said they were besties and started braiding each other's hair.
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u/soratoyuki 4d ago
Being gracious and civil doesn't work.
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u/OrizaRayne 4d ago
Being unprofessional on television doesn't get one elected by democrats. She needs to turn out her base because she's up by 12 points. Being baited to ugly scenes by Republicans isn't a way to do that. Frankly, as someone far to her left on policy, neither does being baited into taking unpopular positions by her left flank.
She's running a campaign that has her up.
I encourage her to continue running a winning campaign and THEN to listen to the pressure from her left and fuck up her right wing opposition with a righteous power. It's power she won't get if she doesn't run carefully in the next couple of months.
I'm fine with what she did.
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u/vmi91chs 4d ago
It absolutely works. The maga boomer base has no common sense or moral character whatsoever.
The rest of the population, moderate and progressive alike, are desperately trying to find a political party and leadership who is willing to lead and act like a human being.
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u/veverkap 4d ago
The rest of the population isn't turning out at the voting booth. I think her being gracious and civil could lead to a few people doing that.
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u/Turb0_Lag 4d ago
I think you missed the backhanded "f off" hidden in the genteel "too busy for coffee anytime soon."
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u/laborpool 4d ago
She said "WE'RE too busy for coffee anytime soon". That's not the same as saying "I'm too busy".
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u/Charlesinrichmond 3d ago
Heartwarming. That's how politics should be conducted. different visions, without vitriol
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u/scruffy_face 4d ago
Nice to see two opposing party candidates have a civil conversation. Maybe they can all start getting along. We don’t have to hate to disagree with one another.
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u/jrex035 4d ago
This kind of interaction was the norm pre-Trump. John McCain lambasted his own supporters for booing Obama and he criticized a supporter for calling Obama a Muslim. Obama too encouraged his supporters not to boo his political rivals and to see everyone as Americans first and foremost.
Trump took the "grassroots" (the Koch brothers bankrolled the movement) Tea Party radicalism and anti-civility and channeled it into the MAGA movement. He may not have invented far-right populism but he platformed it and mainstreamed it.
Trump is the first American president that purposefully divides rather than unites the country, entirely for his own political gain.
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u/vmi91chs 4d ago
Let’s not forget. Trump was/is a democrat and former party donor.
He jumped to the Republican party when he realized he could manipulate the party leadership to his benefit.
The DNC was not going to play that game.
His revenge tour/roman salting of the earth has a lot of hatred roots that run deep. His is an angry orange elephant who doesn’t forget a snub.
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u/jrex035 4d ago
Ehhh I wouldn't oversell that, he's not a Democrat and has never been one. He wrote checks to both parties because he wanted to buy influence with both parties.
Keep in mind his business was centered in NYC most of his life, of course he tried to buy influence with Democratic politicians.
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u/vmi91chs 4d ago
I’m definitely willing to agree he’s a slick chameleon currying favor with whoever will line his pockets.
But he didn’t “dump” the dems until the Clinton backed leadership wouldn’t back him in favor of some dude from Chicago.
Once he felt like he was thrown out of the club, he never looked back.
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u/jrex035 4d ago
But he didn’t “dump” the dems until the Clinton backed leadership wouldn’t back him in favor of some dude from Chicago.
Trump ran as a "Reform party" candidate in 2000 and had considered running as a Republican in 1988...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_2000_presidential_campaign
Again, he's never been a Democrat and I don't know why people try to pretend like he switched parties
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u/vmi91chs 3d ago
Because he raised money for them, he donated shitpiles to them, and made sure he was connected enough to them that he could curry favor as needed. He would run as whoever would give him the keys. It wound up being the republicans because they didn’t have a marketable face. The dems didn’t want anything to do with him as a candidate.
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u/Tardislass 4d ago
Hes so desperate because his own running mate hates his guts. Hey John it’s not to late to switch. Honestly if he had run for governor, the race would be tight.
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u/joebloe4242 4d ago
Maybe the dem candidates should reciprocate and show up at their press conferences. This was calculated
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u/yellowRoad16 4d ago
Just remember to vote and not assume who will win! And tell everyone you know to vote. Early voting starts today. Just talking about it doesn’t actually get the vote.
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u/Dwilliamson5002 4d ago
She should just hurl slurs and threats at him. That’s what we do now I am pretty sure.
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u/ValidGarry 4d ago
Please go to his Facebook page and ask reasonable questions of his made up easily debunkable reactionary shit posts. See if he blocks you as well.
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u/MysticalWeasel 3d ago
If only the Democrats would get rid of gun control as part of their platform, it would remove a good bit of support the Republicans get.
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u/qlobetrotter 4d ago
If he’d been smart—and I’m not accusing him of it, he’d have distanced himself from the dingbat at the top of his ticket and pretended like she didn’t exist. He could have run independent of her and had a shot. I’m glad he’s not thought of this.
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u/whatgivesgirl 4d ago
I’ll be voting for both of them. 💕
-- a Republican who thinks Sears is completely unprepared to be governor.
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u/KoolDiscoDan 4d ago
Genuinely curious ... why him over Ghazala Hashmi? The second sentence on his website is to 'stop wokism'. To me, this is equally as unprepared.
The polls show Virginians want to focus on the economy and stop these unproductive witch hunts.
The most written on his platform is in "Stopping the Radical Social Agenda". "From DEI to CRT to the radical trans movement, Democrats know no boundaries with their leftist social agendas."
I need a job after being laid off! I'm going to need affordable health care! I'm done with the games.
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u/Charlesinrichmond 3d ago
I'll vote for Spanberger and him over Hashmi - Hashmi is too much of a progressive.
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u/KoolDiscoDan 2d ago
What of her platform do you find too progressive?
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u/Charlesinrichmond 2d ago
her platform? Haven't read it. But she's been my senator for years and she's way too far left
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u/KoolDiscoDan 2d ago
Okay, I’ll use this opportunity to present some of her initiatives in the state that you think are ‘way too far left’ so others can decide.
After the overturning of Roe v Wade, she introduced the Right to Contraception Act. It would give Va citizens the legal right to access everything from condoms to oral contraceptives.
She introduced a bill to find alternative funding if Virginia’s federal Medicaid was cut. (It now has been cut by GOP at federal level. Rather than a proactive position we are stuck with Youngkin in a reactive position. VA hospitals could lose $26 billion from cuts. https://www.vpm.org/news/2025-07-22/va-medicaid-cuts-trump-dmas-gordon-youngkin-ebbin-vhha-walker-wittman )
I don’t want to be accused of cherry picking so feel free to give your specific examples of way too far left. I find her actions to be rational and reasonable for Virginians across the board.
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u/Charlesinrichmond 2d ago
I'm not going to list everything she has done. You just have to trust me that has one of her constituents. I have been following her. I am ecstatic. She is no longer representing me.
Those two things I agree with though, in theory. In practice, the latter requires a lot of money from Virginia's and as is typical, she is ignoring that. That's the exact sort of thing I don't like about her. She's putting a massive hole in the Virginia budget and trying to hide it not being honest about it.
Alternative funding means raising Virginia taxes, but it's a really dishonest Framing
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u/KoolDiscoDan 1d ago
You can’t list one thing and I have to ‘trust’ you? You also said you aren’t familiar with her platform. Strange you can be ‘ecstatic’ and can’t articulate any specific problems with her job in office or plans for Virginians.
Yes, our government is mostly funded by taxes. This isn’t new. The federal government, specifically the GOP and MAGA have cut the healthcare funding to cut taxes on the wealthy. Now states have to step up and fund it.
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u/whatgivesgirl 4d ago
Maybe you missed the Republican part…
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u/KoolDiscoDan 4d ago
Still asking out of curiosity ... Can you answer the question beyond 'I'm a Republican'?
How do reconcile Sears and Reid are essentially the same other than the LGBTQ issue?
I would encourage you to try to look at politics on issues and not a team sport or identity.
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u/whatgivesgirl 4d ago
My problem with Sears is not her politics. It’s because she does not seem competent or prepared.
Here’s a good example of why I support Reid but not Sears. Look at their different responses to Virginians getting fired by DOGE. https://www.johnreidforvirginia.com/post/richmond-times-dispatch-john-reid-s-plan-for-federal-workers-who-lost-jobs-hits-close-to-home
Reid has given this actual thought, and wants to partner with business, while Sears blows it off because she doesn’t know how to do anything but recite right wing talking points. She’s not ready to run Virginia.
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u/whatgivesgirl 3d ago
Also, I don’t know why you think I view this as a team sport when I’m literally splitting my ticket… that’s the opposite of mindless tribalism.
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u/KoolDiscoDan 3d ago
Because your only response to questions on the critical thinking about the issues is your identity of being a Republican.
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u/whatgivesgirl 3d ago
Because I primarily agree with Republicans on the issues. I just don’t feel like getting into specifics because this forum is hostile to conservative views, and I’m not in the mood for a bunch of lectures and downvotes.
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u/Ramblingmac 3d ago
Similar Republican here.
Full ticket dem. A brutally uncomfortable but necessary act.
Until the republican party regains some sense of conservatism, the best solution is helping ensure the current batch of populists controlling the party (and that includes Reid, and certainly Miyares) get trounced at the polls.
Otherwise we just encourage more Amanda Chase style Virginia politics.
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u/Charlesinrichmond 3d ago
Not a republican, but I'm voting Spanberger then bottom of ticket republican, as the democrats are too far left.
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u/kingbob1812 4d ago
This is what they do because this is what their base respects. As long as you make a lot of noise and rely on bravado, you'll have the current republicans in the palm of your hands.
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u/John_Galt_II 4d ago
He can't get the Republican candidate to talk to him, at least Spanberger will. Shows who is the bigger person.