Abigail Spanberger Discuss Massive Vibe Shift in Virginia

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2:20Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump continues to get bad news and got a rude awakening out of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The latest polling out of there from civics has him again very much underwater, 58 percent disapproving, only 38 percent approval. When you go through the cross tabs, you see young people absolutely despise him. 68 % of young people, 18 to 34, disapprove. They see Donald Trump stealing their future. You go to the 35 to 49 demographic, 61 % disapprove. As you get a little bit older, 50 to 64, still underwater, 51 % disapprove. And interestingly, when you see the 65 and above, you're seeing 52 % disapprove.

3:04Ben Meiselas:Although I would expect those numbers to get even worse for Donald Trump as he starts taking away more people's health care. Looking at other demographic crosstabs here, females in Virginia, 66 percent disapprove. Independence, which is going to play an important role, I think, in the governor's race there coming up, 56 percent disapprove. Even when you go to the crosstab of white people, 50 percent disapprove. Black or African-American, 84 percent disapprove. disapproved. Hispanic, Latino, obviously being targeted by the Trump regime in mass deportation, 62 percent disapproved. Even when you go to kind of redder areas in Virginia that typically don't vote for Democrats, you're seeing huge crowds show up, for example, in Lynchburg and Withville and in places like that at the No Kings protest.

3:57Ben Meiselas:Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger is running for A governor in Virginia did a bus tour and she went right into Lynchburg and Withville and red areas as well that, you know, previously had voted Trump and got a lot of love out there. Let me just show everybody. This is the Lynchburg No Kings peaceful protest. Let's just show a clip of it.

4:35Ben Meiselas:One of the things we're seeing in Virginia as well is that it's facing the longest unemployment surge since the Great Recession. In many ways, there's a great recession right there right now based on what Trump is doing with the jobs in Virginia, what their horrible governor, Youngkin, is doing right now, and what their lieutenant governor, Earl Sears, will do is just make the situation much, much worse. I mean, we're literally looking at the new data showing Virginia's unemployment rate increasing for five straight months, the longest streak since 2008. Great recession. And of course, Medicaid cuts and other essential services being taken away.

5:15Ben Meiselas:Let's bring in Congresswoman Spanberger. She's running for governor in Virginia. you took this bus tour and I think it was a priority as well to go into the, you know, not just the blue and the purple areas, but go into the red areas. Can you tell us what you saw there when you, when you, when you traveled there? Absolutely. Well, thank you for highlighting the work that we're doing on the ground to win every possible vote across Virginia. Of course, our election is this November. So we are in the general election at this moment and running hard towards this November. You know, I've always won in my congressional races before now my campaign for governor by campaigning everywhere, by endeavoring to ensure that every voter knows who I am, why I'm running, why I'm asking for their vote, whether they choose to vote for me or not.

6:06And so now in my statewide race, I'm endeavoring to do much of the same, traveling across the entirety of our Commonwealth over and over again to make sure that we're reaching out to voters. I'm listening to people in every corner of Virginia, including some of our reddest communities, to talk about my plans to address the issues that matter most to them, particularly in areas of affordability, whether that's in healthcare or housing or energy pricing, my plans to strengthen our public education system here in Virginia. And the bus tour was a great kickoff for the general election. We just got our nominees for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

6:46And so the three of us set off making stops all across Virginia. And it was a fantastic bus tour.

6:55Ben Meiselas:People feeling these devastating impacts by the Trump regime. Like when you go to these areas, you know, sometimes we talk about these things in like theoretical ways and messaging and this and that. But when you take a bus tour, you hear from people who are losing their health care. You hear from people who can't afford to buy groceries or who suffer the psychological torture of living paycheck to paycheck. Can you speak to that of what you saw in that bus tour? Absolutely. The stories that I heard from people in every corner of Virginia were pretty profound, certainly consistent with what I've been hearing now across the campaign.

7:33But there's just a couple examples. I had a young man come up to me in Southwest Virginia and say that he is really worried about the future of Medicaid and the future of healthcare in Virginia. I asked him a little bit about his situation and what motivates him to talk about this. And he actually works in a hospital system. He's a phlebotomist. And he said to me, like the most earnest thing where he said, well, this isn't about my job. I don't want to lose my job if the hospital shuts down, but where are the patients that I help? Where are they going to go if my hospital shuts down? And to hear someone you know, advocating for their patients in such an earnest way, you know, that's consistent with what I hear.

8:20I was in Roanoke at another event and I had two physicians approach me and talk about their significant deep worries about what cuts to Medicaid would mean for the community that they serve and the people who, not just the folks who rely on Medicaid, but in fact, the larger community where some of our hospitals across various parts of Virginia stay afloat because Virginia chose to expand Medicaid a couple of years back. And I've heard from a young man who said, I'm really grateful that, you know, you've said you'll you'll sign a minimum wage increase bill. That's something certainly that our current governor has already has has already vetoed because he said he's a minimum wage worker.

9:08He works hard. You know, he he he likes working. He works hard. But he dreams of a time when we'll actually increase the minimum wage in Virginia. And the stories are significant. People telling of their own hardships related to food security or health challenges or cost of living and housing. But the stories of local elected officials, town mayors and board of supervisor members who are telling me the hurdles and the challenges that people within their community are facing, particularly related to housing prices and the cost of rents going up. Um, and so in every corner of Virginia, whether it was discussing tariffs or federal layoffs, I actually had one gentleman come to an event.

9:54Um, he, this was in Northern Virginia and he said, I, I just, I wanted to be at this event. I wanted to say hello and, you know, I'm getting fired tomorrow from my federal job. And he told me a little bit about his job, um, and you know, the department that he works for and the, the, the work that he does. And he said, you know, I love my job. I love the mission of the job. I don't want to lose my job, but I'm really worried about the United States and our safety and national security when my job and jobs like mine continue to be cut. So the realities on the ground are something that people clearly perceive, and it's motivating people to get out and come to events and to use their voices to advocate for changes or supports to things that they know are of value in our communities.

10:45Ben Meiselas:No, I'm not trying to be facetious here. You know, I try to see other sides of it. So I'm like, what is your opponent, Lieutenant Governor Winston Morales? Like, what is she running? Like, what is she actually other than like the culture wars to try to divide people? And other than, you know, her saying that Donald Trump is the greatest thing since sliced bread and Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, he's a smart. I truly, and I'm not saying, you know, I don't know what they're running on anymore. I mean, I guess it's also just always help billionaires get tax cuts and screw people.

11:22Ben Meiselas:But, like, I don't understand. That's not politics. And it frustrates me that it gets normalized in a way, you know, and I don't know. Maybe this is like a weird question to be asked because you're in a political race. I don't even understand this political race because you're running to deliver for the people. I just genuinely don't know what your opponent's doing. Well, I recognize you have a slight bias in this conversation, which I accept and I appreciate. But I would say as someone who is campaigning on the ground, I agree with you. The things that my opponent says that she's for, she's for a ban on abortion.

11:59She is morally opposed to same-sex marriage. She is for taking public dollars out of public schools. From my perspective, that isn't much of an agenda that I think would resonate with people. And so it's actually a really interesting time on the ground because I've rolled out my affordability agenda for housing, health care, energy. We're rolling out additional agendas into the near term to make sure that people know that not only do I recognize the starkness of this moment here in the Commonwealth, but I'm actually trying to plan for a brighter future and be responsive to the issues that people are bringing to me.

12:39But I would say as the opponent in the race, it is a really interesting campaign because, you know, I've run multiple political campaigns before and I could always say, you know, I'm here on this issue. My opponent, you know, I'm advocating for this. My opponent's advocating for that. And that's actually, with the exception of a couple of really extreme things, that's not even present in this circumstance. But I would remind everybody, Virginia is a purple state. We're a toss up state. We currently have a Republican governor. You know, my opponent, as much as, you know, I'm saying she doesn't have a plan, which she doesn't.

13:13She is currently the lieutenant governor. So we are taking this race serious in every minute. This race, you know, I feel confident if it were tomorrow, I'd win, but it's not tomorrow. And I've got a lot of work to do to make sure in every corner of Virginia, people know what I am for, how I want to stand up for them and how I want to do right by our fellow Virginians. So it's a long path between now and November, but we're going to run hard every day.

13:43Ben Meiselas:I mean, they used to like fake it. They used to say, OK, if we give the tax cuts to the billionaires, it's going to trickle down and you're going to do even better. Like they're not they don't even go there anymore. What they just do now is they go. It doesn't say that in the bill. And like it says it in the bill or like that's not happening. I'm like, yeah, it is happening. Things are great. It's like, no, no, it's not. And I'll just say this like and I've said this before. And when I say this, my wife always gets upset because she's like, you do like politics. Because I always say to her, it's funny that I run a political media company because I really don't like politics.

14:16Ben Meiselas:So I guess you do. But I like the issues and I like the people. And so where my bias is on is, OK, well, what are the issues that matter to the people right now? You know, when it's affordability, when it's having a job that pays them with dignity, you know, when it's education, when it's their health. My bias is is is always there. So, you know, I like you. But if you one day started saying the things that she, if you started saying the things that she started saying, where can people find out more about what you're doing if they want to know more about the issues as we dig in? And any final thing you want to say to our audience?

14:52Yeah, well, I just thank you for highlighting, frankly, you know, so much of the good work that Virginians are doing here on the ground. Virginians recognize the uniqueness of the situation that we are in. It's just us in New Jersey that have off-year elections this year, 2025. We know we get to set an example for the rest of the country, and it's a responsibility. Certainly, I want to serve my fellow Virginians as governor, but across the board, people are motivated because we know that how we vote in Virginia, not just flipping three statewide seats, but also the elections that we have of 100 seats in the House of Delegates, where this year we have 100 Democrats running in every corner of the Commonwealth.

15:33We know that we'll set an example that that will send a message to the rest of the country with what it is that we do. And so, you know, people across the country, I welcome you to watch what we're doing. We're looking to set a great example that others can follow in 26. My website is Abigail Spanberger dot com. You can sign up to volunteer. Certainly you can donate. You can support from afar or keep track of us on social media to make sure you can see fun photos from the campaign trail across Virginia. It's a beautiful place. I welcome anyone to to come and visit into the future. And certainly come January, there will be a new governor to greet you.

16:13Ben Meiselas:And a governor for the people, not for the bullies and the billionaires, for the people. Congresswoman Spanberger, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to six million. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies collection at store.midastouch.com. All 100 % USA Union made.

16:44Ben Meiselas:With summer coming to an end, you're going to be spending more time indoors. Get your home ready and save up to 50 % off custom window treatments during the Labor Day mega sale at Blinds.com. From room darkening to light filtering shades, finding the perfect fit is easy. Get free samples, expert design help, and professional measure and install services. or DIY with confidence and support every step of the way. Shop up to 50 % off site-wide plus huge savings on doorbusters right now during the Labor Day mega sale at blinds.com. What if you can see what's happening inside your body? PreNuvo's whole body scan screens for hundreds of conditions, including many solid tumors as early as stage one, all in under an hour.

17:25Ben Meiselas:And now you can go beyond imaging with 80 plus blood biomarkers that help complete the picture. This Labor Day, save$300 off your scan when you book at prenuvo.com. That's P-R-E-N-U-V-O dot com. Save$300 now through September 8th at prenuvo.com. Terms and conditions apply. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

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