On the first day of early voting in Virginia this month, former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger urged her fellow party members on Capitol Hill to abandon any effort that would lead to a government shutdown in Washington.

“As a Virginian, it is always my position that a government shutdown is never effective. They are always costly. They are always deeply impactful on the government workforce,” Spanberger told reporters outside the Fairfax Government Center, where she had just spoken to a crowd of supporters.

Recommended Stories

• Elon Musk and Steve Bannon mentioned in third batch of Epstein files received by House Oversight
• Democrats targeting Susan Collins’s Senate seat eye Trump tariffs as weak spot
• Several Maryland Republican leaders endorse Moore for reelection

Spanberger, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, has long pointed to the Department of Government Efficiency’s slashing of the federal workforce as a key theme in her campaign to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) against state Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R).

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER SMELLS VICTORY IN VIRGINIA IN EARLY VOTING KICKOFF EVENT

Virginia had more than 300,000 federal workers at the beginning of 2025, surpassing nearly all other states except Maryland. A report from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center, released in May, estimated Virginia would lose 32,000 jobs in 2025 and the state’s unemployment rate would reach its highest rate since 2021.

Adding to the Old Dominion’s woes is a recent White House budget office memorandum from Director Russell Vought that directed federal agencies to prepare for permanent layoffs if the government shuts down after the Sept. 30 funding deadline.

The threat of more job losses in Virginia would likely help Spanberger’s case that a Democrat must ascend to the governor’s mansion and reverse the federal job cuts that have occurred under President Donald Trump’s White House.

“People are already anxious about the economic situation. The shutdown makes it much worse,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington.

Farnsworth also warned that “when people lose their jobs altogether, they’re going to be angry,” and will be more likely to show up and vote.

A RealClearPolitics poll composite of the gubernatorial race shows Spanberger with a more than 7% lead against Earle-Sears, 49% to 41.7%

A recent Christopher Newport University poll showed that the key issues for Virginia likely voters were inflation/cost of living at 21%, threats to democracy at 18%, and an even split between K-12 education, immigration, and crime, all at 9% each.

A government shutdown is all but certain to add more strain to workers if they are forced to resign. Democrats have already begun to blame the GOP, citing their control of both chambers in Congress and the White House.

“Firing that many Virginians would give Spanberger a boost, and she’s already ahead,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. “So I think it would be an asset to her campaign. Trump only cares about himself. He doesn’t care about Republicans and Virginians … He doesn’t care about federal workers.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) implored Virginians to remember any job losses as they head to the polls to vote.

“Attention Virginia[,] Donald Trump and [Make America Great Again] extremists are plotting mass firings of federal workers starting October 1,” he wrote on X. “Their goal is to ruin your life and punish hardworking families already struggling with Trump Tariffs and inflation. Remember in November.”

Trump, however, is using the power of the bully pulpit to hammer Democrats. “This is all caused by the Democrats,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday about a potential shutdown. “They asked us to do something that’s totally unreasonable. They never change. They want to give money away to [illegal immigrants].”

The Washington Examiner contacted the Earle-Sears campaign for comment on the looming shutdown but did not receive a response.

Political experts claimed Democrats, including Spanberger, have much to benefit from if voters blame the GOP for the shutdown and subsequent “reduction-in-force” plans to slash more federal jobs.

“Democrats could be perceived as standing up to Trump,” said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) caved on a partial government shutdown in March, angering many Democrats.

A shutdown would show “Democratic leaders are really maybe starting to listen to where their base is,” Coleman continued.

“Spanberger herself, she is to me, I think her inclination really is to be kind of a post-partisan type of politician, because that’s how she won her races in the House of Representatives … that’s not necessarily where a lot of the enthusiasm in her party is right now,” Coleman added. “She’s kind of having to walk that line a little. So that could be something that would kind of really help her shore up democratic enthusiasm.”

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee heads into the final weeks of the campaign with an advantage.

DEMOCRATS DECRY WHITE HOUSE LAYOFF THREAT AS ‘INTIMIDATION’ AHEAD OF SHUTDOWN DEADLINE

A double-digit win in an off-year election would reverberate nationally ahead of the 2026 midterm elections after Democrats have struggled to rebrand from their losses during the 2024 election.

“If Democrats win at a wide margin in 2025, then as you head into midterms … there will be momentum that Democrats can claim as they go into conversations with donors,” said Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist. “And maybe reverse some of that donor fatigue that came out of 2024.”