On Tuesday night, Abigail Spanberger will walk out on to the historic grounds of Colonial Williamsburg and deliver the Democratic response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Now that Democrats in Richmond hold the governorship, the state senate and the house of delegates for the first time in years, Spanberger has not been shy about flexing, or slowing down. She will be the second former CIA official in a row to be handed the job of delivering the Democratic response to a Trump address to a joint session of Congress. That the party has now turned to the same profile twice in succession indicates where Democratic strategists think the electoral center of gravity lies. Her selection highlights how the Democratic party is seemingly divided over where it should go next.

Source: The Guardian February 24, 2026 22:00 UTC