Virginia
Two Virginia women who came to Congress on a mission prepare to leave at a critical moment – WTOP News
Democratic Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton roared into Washington six years ago as part of a record wave of women vying for House seats. Of the 35 Democratic women first elected in 2018, Spanberger and Wexton are among 14 who have since left or will be leaving Congress by next year.
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton roared into Washington six years ago as part of a record wave of women vying for House seats, many on a mission to push back against the politics of Donald Trump.
“We were part of that 2018 class, and we sort of ran in there like: ‘There’s a fire. We’re here,’” Spanberger said.
The outgoing congresswoman, who along with Wexton recently reflected on their time in Congress in interviews with The Associated Press, drew a quick breath.
“It’s slightly different than the tone of where things are right now,” she said.
That is an understatement. Trump, a president the two Virginia Democrats campaigned against as they unseated established incumbent Republicans, is about to embark on a second term after mounting an improbable political comeback. Of the 35 Democratic women first elected in 2018, Spanberger and Wexton are among 14 who have since left or will be leaving Congress by next year.
That’s not to say their journey is over or that they are retreating from public discourse.
Kelly Dittmar, research director at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, described Virginia as a canary in a coal mine when voters elected more women to the statehouse in 2017, followed by the election of Spanberger, Wexton and former Rep. Elaine Luria there in 2018. But Dittmar said progress toward better gender representation hasn’t always been linear.
Last month, 21 of the original 35 female Democrats first elected in 2018 ran for reelection to their House seats, not including Rep. Elissa Slotkin, elected to the Senate by Michigan voters this year. And in those races, 20 won. They’ll be among the 150 women — 110 Democrats and 40 Republicans — serving in the 119th Congress next year, one woman shy of a record of 151 set in 2023.
Spanberger, meanwhile, is running for governor in a race comprised solely of two female candidates, making it likely that Virginia’s next governor will be a woman for the first time.
But when women leave elected office, Dittmar said, their absence is felt more acutely because there is less female representation to begin with. She said it’s unclear whether the U.S. will see another surge of women filing to run anytime soon.
She looked into why women said they ran in 2018 and “yes, there is evidence that they talked about Donald Trump,” Dittmar said. “I think the difference between ’16 and ’24 — and that we just can’t know yet — is the degree of exhaustion and the degree of toxicity that may go into a calculation about deciding whether or not to run for office.”
For both Spanberger and Wexton, that path has taken unexpected turns.
After twice winning reelection, Wexton was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a life-threatening neurological disorder similar to Parkinson’s disease, and made the difficult decision to retire. Spanberger is exchanging her congressional pin for a loftier goal in state politics. They will be succeeded in Congress by Democrats Eugene Vindman and Suhas Subramanyam, cutting Virginia’s female congressional representation from four to two.
A bond forged in public service and friendship
In the stately formality of a congressional conference room, Spanberger and Wexton reminisced on their time on Capitol Hill. They have become uncommonly close, bound by time spent together, some shared views on public policy and a friendship that has managed to transcend the ups and downs of Washington politics. A stream of text messages that began after their victory speeches in 2018 has continued ever since.
Their bids for Congress were backed by many women who marched, phone-banked and organized in a grass-roots movement that decried Trump and worked to elect female Democrats.
They won the votes. They took an oath. And then, the women got to work.
Wexton, previously a state senator and prosecutor, developed a reputation for taking care of her district, said Rosalyn Cooperman, a professor at the University of Mary Washington. Cooperman said she vied for funding opportunities and committee assignments that helped bring tens of millions of dollars in federal investments to northern Virginia. She also tackled opioid addiction, transgender rights and childhood cancer research. After announcing her diagnosis, Wexton co-sponsored the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act, which President Joe Biden signed in July. Lawmakers named the legislation in her honor.
Spanberger, an ex-CIA operative who stopped working at an education company to run for Congress, cultivated a knack for tackling lower-profile issues: bringing broadband to rural areas, fighting drug trafficking and veterans’ issues. The Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School ranked the Virginia Democrat as the 17th most bipartisan member of the House last year.
“Both women really understood the districts that they represented and what the districts needed, and went about the work very effectively and without too much fanfare,” Cooperman said.
Spanberger and Wexton became fast friends while first campaigning for their House seats in 2018. The two formed a trio with Luria, who left Congress after losing to Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in 2022. Spanberger described Wexton as her quick-witted big sister — someone who gave her advice on everything from raising teenagers to navigating a legislature. At one point, Wexton wrote Spanberger a script for speaking on the House floor.
Wexton, with the help of an artificial intelligence program, spoke of Spanberger supporting her in a more vulnerable way: styling Wexton’s hair as she showed up to Congress with her health struggles.
“That is no small feat — I had experienced first-hand how hard it was becoming to do my hair,” Wexton said. “For the next almost 90 minutes, Abigail would put various potions in my hair and dry it with a round brush.
“It was wonderful. I felt so pampered.”
Spanberger, with tears welling in her eyes, laughed, “You have so much hair!”
Wexton learned she had progressive supranuclear palsy in 2023. Within the last two years, she lost her ability to speak clearly and walk without assistance. In her interview, the congresswoman used her pointer finger to type thoughts on her tablet, which she then played aloud. In her final months in Congress, she said, well-meaning colleagues would talk to her like a child or reintroduce themselves to her.
“My PSP has robbed me of my voice, and others may take that to mean it has robbed me of my cognitive ability as well,” she said. “But that’s not true. I’m just as much me as I’ve always been.”
As the current term ends, many women are coming to terms with Trump’s ascent back to power. Many Democrats say the fight isn’t over but has changed in unexpected ways.
“To be very clear, I’m super excited that Eugene Vindman and Suhas Subramanyam are replacing us,” Spanberger said. “But it is a little bit bittersweet that we came in with this group of three women, and within three terms, we’re both — that all three of us are no longer there.”
Wexton said she hoped people, and women specifically, would persevere.
“We’re not going to win every battle or every election,” she said, “but it is true that our democracy works best when more people participate in it.”
___
Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.
Copyright
© 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
Virginia
Virginia Tech women overcome slow start to rally past Georgia Tech in ACC Tournament opener
DULUTH, Ga. (WDBJ/Hokie Sports) – Sixth-seeded Virginia Tech fought back from a 14-point deficit late in the first quarter, rallying for a 62-54 victory over No. 11 seed Georgia Tech in the second round of the 2026 Ally ACC Women’s Tournament Thursday evening.
The Hokies, who move to 23-8 overall on the season, earned their first ACC Tournament victory in the Megan Duffy era. Tech moves on to the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2024.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia Tech faced a four-point deficit until Leila Wells (7:15) stepped up for a three-pointer to keep the Hokies within reach early. Her triple would be Tech’s only field goal until the final 40 seconds of the opening quarter. Carleigh Wenzel provided a late spark for the Hokies, getting down the lane (0:40) and hitting a basket (0:18) in the final minute to stop the run, but Georgia Tech carried a 17–7 lead into the second quarter.
Playing inspired, the Hokies sprinted out of the break for five straight points with layups from Samyha Suffren (9:50) and Mackenzie Nelson (9:28), along with a make at the stripe from Wenzel, to close to 17-12 at the 8:12 mark. The momentum continued to swing in Tech’s favor as it ripped off 15 straight points, a run ignited by Suffren’s (7:44) fast-break lay-in and capped by a Carys Baker (1:33) triple to give the Hokies a 27-19 lead. Free throws closed out the half for both sides as Virginia Tech headed into the locker room with a 29-23 edge. The Hokies forced six turnovers in the second period, scoring 10 points off the Yellow Jackets’ miscues.
Both sides traded baskets to kick off the second half before Tech knocked down consecutive makes from beyond the arc, the first from Wells (8:31) and the second from Nelson (7:59), to stretch the advantage to double figures, 37-27. It remained a back-and-forth game until Baker’s free throws with 3:35 remaining in the period gave the Hokies their largest lead of the contest at 48-37. Georgia Tech closed out the frame scoring six unanswered as the margin narrowed to 50-46 in favor of Tech at the end of the third.
The Yellow Jackets’ run continued into the fourth quarter as the score moved to 50-48 at the 9:26 mark. Virginia Tech rattled off seven consecutive points, including a three-pointer from Wenzel (7:08), to push ahead by nine with 4:44 remaining, 57-48. Suffren pulled up for a jumper outside the paint with just over a minute left in the contest, but Georgia Tech finished with a layup at the buzzer as Virginia Tech closed out the 62-54 victory.
GAME NOTES
- Virginia Tech won their first game as a six-seed in the ACC Tournament (1-0) and first against Georgia Tech (1-2) in program history
- The Hokies have now won four of their last five opening contests in the conference tournament
- Tech also earned their first ACC Tournament victory in the Megan Duffy era
- Virginia Tech controlled the glass, 41-36
- The Hokies held the Yellow Jackets to six points in the second quarter, matching the fewest by an opponent in a quarter this season (last versus Loyola MD on Nov. 9, 2025)
- Guard Carleigh Wenzel paced Tech in scoring with 15 points for her 15th-straight game in double figures
- Redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Nelson followed with a near double-double of 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds
- Nelson also tallied six assists, two assists, one block, and committed zero turnovers
- Guard Leila Wells put together eight points and a career-best six rebounds in 15 minutes of action
- Samyha Suffren registered her career-best five assists
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech advances to the Quarterfinal Round of the 2026 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament Friday, March 6 against third-seeded North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network.
Copyright 2026 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
Former President Barack Obama is calling on voters in Virginia to support a ballot measure this spring that would change the commonwealth’s constitution and cause new congressional district boundaries benefiting Democrats to be used in this fall’s midterm elections.
In a video posted to social media on Thursday morning, Obama noted the surge of mid-decade redistricting started last year when Texas Republicans started work to shift five Democratic seats and make them more favorable to Republicans.
Since then, California Democrats were able to redraw the lines involving five GOP-held seats to try and offset Texas’ gerrymander. Republicans in North Carolina and Missouri last year also altered a Democratic-held seat in each of their respective states to try and help the GOP.
“In April, Virginians can respond by making sure your voting power is not diminished by what Republicans are doing in other states,” Obama, a Democrat, said in the video. “This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall.”
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the U.S. House and are contending with the prospect of losing control of the chamber this fall when every seat is on the ballot.
Virginia Democrats’ redistricting effort has proven to be a lengthy process, and legal concerns have surrounded much of the work and thrown some uncertainty into the outcome. The commonwealth’s map in place at the moment resulted in six House seats for Democrats in the 2024 election and five for Republicans. Plans offered by elected Democratic leaders this year would try and shift those lines in a way that could result in sending 10 Democrats back to the House and just one Republican.
“Democrats’ illegal gerrymandering power grab is an affront to democracy and rigs our maps to turn Virginia into a one-party state,” the Republican Party of Virginia said last month on social media, adding “It is an intentional effort to silence and disenfranchise half our Commonwealth.”
After the 2020 Census, both Democratic and Republican led states indulged in the well-worn practice of gerrymandering, drawing districts that favored their own parties and lessening the chances of competitive races.
But the series of mid-decade redraws impacting the 2026 midterms essentially represent a break from tradition and have put Democrats in the position of having to backtrack on some of their past messaging on the issue. “For too long, gerrymandering has contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government,” Obama himself said on social media in 2020.
A statewide vote is set for April 21 on whether to change Virginia’s constitution and give the General Assembly the ability to change the maps just months before general election contests will be held. Early voting is set to start Friday.
Virginia is more of a purple state, and it’s unclear what will happen to the constitutional amendment in the April 21 special election. Republicans widely oppose the effort, and additional congressional redistricting in GOP-led Florida could lessen the impact of any changes made in Virginia.
Arlington, Virginia, resident Anjali Sharma — stuck in the Middle Eastern since Saturday — documents her story on social media from a hotel in Doha, Qatar.
“I think it really hit me when I saw black smoke coming from afar on one of the buildings, and it ended up being a missile that got defused, and the debris fell on the ground and caused an explosion,” Sharma said.
She was on her way to a wedding in India and had a layover in Qatar when Iran’s retaliatory strikes began. The airspace in Qatar and several other nearby countries is closed.
Sharma is alone. She says the rest of her family she was supposed to meet with had their flights canceled.
She says it’s incredibly unsettling.
“I hear explosions every day,” Sharma said. “I hear planes going outside. I mean, I still hear military jets, right now. I don’t really know what that means.”
She is one of several thousands of Americans stranded in the Middle East. The State Department said it’s assisted almost 6,500 Americans since the conflict began.
Sharma says she hasn’t been able to get any clear guidance.
“I would just really appreciate it if the U.S. government could get clear guidelines of what they’re going to do to get us out and when that even may be,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., has been critical of the Trump administration’s evacuation efforts. He says his office has heard from about 100 families whose loved ones are stranded abroad.
“The primary reason the State Department exists is to serve Americans living abroad, and they’re desperately failing at that, right now,” he said.
The White House said the secretary of state issued Level 4 travel advisories dating to January. But Qatar was not one of the countries given a do-not-travel advisory.
The State Department Wednesday created a new form for stranded citizens to fill out. They say it will provide departure information about available aviation and ground transportation options.
Sharma hopes it’s her ticket out.
“I just want to get out of here safely at this point.”
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