High-profile Democrats backing Spanberger for battleground leadership position

A group of eight high-profile Democrats are backing Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) for a battleground leadership position responsible for helping win the toughest House races in the country.

A letter sent to the House Democratic Caucus obtained by Politico states that Spanberger was first elected in 2018 to represent a district that had not sent a Democrat to Congress for decades and has been reelected twice by having a brand of “commonsense representation,” responding to local issues and believing that constituents deserve representatives who work for them.

“Abigail won in a tough environment not by following a cut-and-paste Democratic blueprint, but by reinvesting in communities that had not heard from members of our party or experienced effective representation for years,” they said.

The signatories to the letter are Reps. Susie Lee (Nev.), Jared Golden (Maine), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Jennifer Wexton (Va.), Mikie Sherrill (N.J.), Ann Kuster (N.H.), Kim Schrier (Maine) and Josh Gottheimer (N.J.). Most of the signers won in closely contested races in the midterm elections last month.

Democrats notably outperformed expectations in the midterms in holding onto certain key battleground House seats and flipping some Republican-held seats, but they lost their narrow control of the House.

The signers said the battleground leadership representative, which the caucus voted to establish on Wednesday, needs to be not afraid to share their “first-hand, unfiltered perspective,” even when their opinion is unpopular with caucus leadership.

They added that the representative should understand that party affiliation does not win elections but recognizing the needs of a community and sharing Democrats’ message to voters does.

“Our diversity of experience is our strength, and our Caucus is stronger when that diversity shines through in the rooms and conversations where it matters,” they said.

The signers said Spanberger has never been shy about sharing her concerns or suggesting strategy or messaging improvements to Democratic leaders and has shown she is willing to work with anyone. They said what happens in battleground districts is an indicator of what will happen in future election cycles, and Spanberger is the right advocate for the role.

The Hill has reached out to Spanberger for comment.

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