Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2025
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by Sarah Katherine Sisk
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1 Comments
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Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is facing off against former Democrat Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s closely watched 2025 gubernatorial race. While Spanberger appears to have the edge in the race so far, recent shocking revelations about the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative – “Russiagate” – could create some uncomfortable questions for Spanberger and perhaps give Sears an opportunity to portray her opponent as a dishonest, untrustworthy career bureaucrat.
Before she was elected to Congress in 2018, Spanberger was a CIA operative. She has leaned heavily on that experience in her campaign, repeatedly describing herself as a “federal law enforcement officer” who “worked undercover.”
While Spanberger has tirelessly repeated platitudes about “protecting America” and “preventing terrorist attacks,” she has offered precious few details on what exactly she was doing at America’s spy agency – perhaps unsurprising given the intense secrecy with which the CIA operates. But newly declassified documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard this week should place added scrutiny on Spanberger’s CIA tenure – particularly given her obvious liberal bias.
Documents released by Gabbard specifically allege that senior Obama-era intelligence officials “manufactured and politicized” intelligence to falsely suggest ties between then-candidate Donald Trump and Moscow in 2016. Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are now under criminal investigation for lying to Congress and using the discredited Steele Dossier to justify surveillance against Trump campaign officials.
Spanberger, who co-authored a 2019 Washington Post op-ed calling for Trump’s impeachment over nonexistent ties to Russia and served in the same intelligence community that manufactured the Russia collusion narrative, has remained conspicuously silent on this recent bombshell story. Why is she suddenly so hesitant to weigh in on the matter? What, exactly, did she know about the Trump-Russia collusion probe during her time at the CIA?
In Congress, Spanberger was also one of the chief purveyors of the Russia collusion hoax during Trump’s first term, repeatedly waving around her CIA credentials to lend credibility to the now-discredited narrative. But now she is suddenly unwilling to defend what she once championed as unquestioned fact. Why?
After leaving Congress, Spanberger became suspiciously shifty when Trump nominated Gabbard to become DNI. When Gabbard promised to reveal more about the origins of the Russiagate hoax, Spanberger became apoplectic, absurdly accusing Gabbard – a former Democrat colleague of Spanberger’s in the House – of being “cozy” with Vladimir Putin. Why did Spanberger feel the need to lob this ridiculous smear at Gabbard? What was she afraid of Gabbard uncovering?
Most importantly, Sears and Republican leaders in Virginia should ask why Spanberger has failed to come clean with voters about her Russiagate dishonesty. As late as 2019, Spanberger was posting about the now completely debunked narrative of “Russian meddling in the 2016 election.” Can she offer any explanation for why she so vigorously pushed that blatant falsehood?
For Republicans, this could be the opening they need to knock Spanberger back on her heels and expose her dishonesty and shiftiness on a range of critical issues. Spanberger has, for instance, refused to take a firm stance on protecting Right-to-Work in Virginia. She has also built her political identity around supposedly being a “moderate,” but racked up an astonishingly liberal voting record in Congress.
Spanberger notably voted with President Biden nearly 100 percent of the time, including on the Inflation Reduction Act – a vote that directly cuts against her promise to bring down the cost of living. She has a five percent lifetime score from Heritage Action for America, half the average for House Democrats. She opposed school choice, voted to count illegal immigrants in the census, and rejected Trump-era efforts to downsize the federal bureaucracy.
She also opposed the Laken Riley Act, which would have enabled deportation of criminal illegal aliens, including an MS-13 leader operating in Virginia.
Spanberger co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would override nearly all state-level abortion restrictions, and voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Pro-life groups such as the Susan B. Anthony List and Family Research Council have pointed to her record as evidence of an extreme liberal stance on abortion that places her at odds with a majority of Virginia voters who want some restrictions on the procedure later in pregnancy.
Spanberger also opposed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, celebrated “Trans Visibility Day” during Women’s History Month, and earned a failing grade on Riley Gaines’ “Stand With Women Scorecard.”
Pressing Spanberger on Russiagate could place added scrutiny on all of these other extreme positions as well. Once voters see that a politician is dishonest on one topic, it can open the floodgates to expose them as untrustworthy on a range of issues.
Such an opportunity couldn’t come at a more critical time for Sears. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Spanberger leads Sears 46 percent to 38.5 percent in the race – hardly an insurmountable lead, but enough of a gap to create some real urgency for Republicans with less than four months to go.
Spanberger also enjoys a fundraising advantage, reporting $6.5 million raised in the first half of the year and over $14 million cash on hand. Sears, by contrast, reported $3.5 million raised and less than $3 million in the bank.
All campaigns and races have turning points. This could prove to be a critical one in determining which woman will become the next Governor of Virginia. Along will exposing Abigail Spanberger as a liar, Republicans might just reveal that Spanberger’s moderate image is every bit as fake as the Steele Dossier.
Sarah Katherine Sisk is a proud Hillsdale College alumna and a master’s student in economics at George Mason University. You can follow her on X @SKSisk76.
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