Throughout campaigning in 2017 and 2018, Rep. Abigail Spanberger representing the Virginia 7th Congressional District made commitments to voters that she would work with Republicans and President Trump on issues that constituents in the VA-7 cared about.
The Virginia 7th Congressional District historically has been held by Republicans, Former Majority Leader Eric Cantor represented the VA-7 until he was upset in a primary during the height of the Tea Party push within the Republican ranks by David Brat. Cantor had held the seat from 2001 until 2014 before losing in the Republican primary.
Part of the 2019 116th Congressional freshman class, Rep. Spanberger defeated Republican David Brat after the redistricting of the VA-7 removed Republican majority supported Hanover County precincts. Spanberger by all accounts ran a "moderate" campaign to secure the district during the post 2016 Presidential Election that witnessed President Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Within the precincts of the VA-7, Trump won every County in the District except suburban Henrico County outside Richmond City.
In the wake of President Trump's national emergency declaration, Rep. Spanberger had a significant opportunity to demonstrate to constituents that she was willing to work with Republicans with regard to immigration and border security.
Rep. Spanberger campaigned on "passionate pragmatism" and from her Issues section of her campaign website she stated the following:
"The United States was founded as a nation of immigrants, but our current immigration system is broken. Too many politicians use immigration as a political talking point instead of actually trying to solve the problems. I am committed to finding real, bipartisan solutions to fix our immigration system, and I will work with anyone to create a proposal for immigration reform that ensures border security, takes into account the needs of our workforce, respects our values and history, gives certainty to DACA recipients, and creates an earned pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants currently living here as long as they abide by the law, work hard, and pay taxes.As a CIA officer, I worked counter-terrorism and international drug trafficking cases. I understand the security threats we face, and I know we can secure our borders and points of entry without breaking from American values or tearing families apart. I will advocate for border security policies that use cutting edge technology, together with trained officers and physical infrastructure to ensure our nation’s security at our borders and points of entry.As a former federal agent, I oppose any efforts to create safe havens for violent criminals. Our immigration system is broken, and both parties continue to play politics instead of working together to fix the problem. ( Issues, Abigail Spanberger for Congress, Campaign Website)
In February after President Trump issued a national emergency declaration to address the "border crisis", Spanberger voice opposition to the President stating that "the national emergency declaration was a drastic overstep of Executive authority". She went further and co sponsored bill with Rep. Joaquin Castro (D) TX20 to dismiss the proclamation.
In June, the Federal District Court in Washington DC with Judge Trevor McFadden on the bench upheld Trumps ability to move Defense funds for use on the border to address the national emergency.
Rep. Spanberger spent the better part of the Spring denying the crisis or "emergency" on the border even after Speaker Pelosi stated there was a "humanitarian crisis". In the following weeks, Democrats shift from denying the emergency exists on the border to finally acknowledging what the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security has been stating for six months.
The following graphs demonstrate exactly what has been happening while Democrats in Congress refused to act.
My mid summer, Spanberger made trips to the southern border and suddenly her language changed from denying a national emergency or working with Republicans for border security and wall funding as she stated she would in her campaigning. Spanberger's visit followed the month of Mays immigration statistics that showed 132,887 illegals were detained of which over 11,000 were "unaccompanied" children. This represented the first time since 2007 that the totals had eclipsed 100,000. In fact since October 2018 and a mere month before Spanberger defeated David Brat (R) up until her visit some 700,000 apprehensions had taken place at the border by the U.S. Border Patrol.
In July, Spanberger stated "there is a crisis in terms of the number of people coming across and lack of capacity" to accommodate the illegal immigrants and further stated that the capacity ability was "overcrowded and over stressed".
To most voters in the Virginia 7th Congressional District that would translate to an "emergency".Instead of determining to work with Republicans in the House and the President, Spanberger opted to align herself with Rep. Castro who stated "instead of breaking up families we should break up ICE" (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Apparently both Castro and Spanberger ignored the fact that over 11,000 children entered U.S territory "unaccompanied" by parents or adults. Neither offer any solution to address that situation but rather doubled down on the Progressive narrative that U.S. Border agents are breaking up families.
Not only did Rep. Spanberger fail to offer solutions, ideas or work with Republicans after visiting the border but she would state publicly that "our broken immigration system was on display" with regard to her trip yet offered up no attempts to put the country before Party.
This isn't new for Rep. Abigail Spanberger. Since not supporting Speaker Pelosi for the Speakership as promised to constituents, Spanberger has voted with Nancy Pelosi 94% of the time. Furthermore, Spanberger has voted with fellow Progressive freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. (MI-13) 88% of the time and Gerald Connolly (VA-11) 92% of time. #Tlaib
How often has she voted with Congressman Ben Cline (R) VA-6? Only 32% of the time.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger promised voters in the Virginia Congressional District that she would work with Republicans on issues like immigration. Unfortunately, Spanberger continues to betray the trust constituents placed in her November 2018.
#Spanberger #SpanbergerWatch #illegalimmigration #vapolitics #voteblue #VA07 #VA7 #getwoke #abigailspanberger #DACA #deportthemall #Border #openborders
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