JAHD KHALIL: Congresswoman Spanberger, thank you for talking with me.

I wanted to start pretty broad, if that's okay?

Why should Virginians pick you to be governor?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Well, I'm asking Virginians all across the Commonwealth to vote for me because I want to continue serving Virginia.

We have a lot of challenges facing our communities, whether it's challenges of affordability and housing, healthcare and energy, or our desire to get our public you know, back towards being on to be the best in the nation.

And particularly as we see a climate of, kind of, chaos and disruption coming out of Was whether it's from the administration's tariff policies or from bad policies coming out of Capitol Hill, we need a governor who's going to be steady, focused on standing up for Virginia, putting Virginia first and doing right by our communiti and working to address the thing that keep so many families up at issues of costs and, you know, the future of our kids.

JAHD KHALIL: You'd be in charge of a huge bureaucracy if you win.

So I'm curious how that experience is going to lend itse to being governor and what your leadership style would be.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: You know, I think as governor, I will be attuned to asking the constant question of what's and how can we make that better, and what's not working and how can we fix it?

You know, certainly, even if we're looking towards the administration of Medicaid, as an example, because of the provisions from the so-called One Big Beaut it will fall on the state to con and validate someone's employmen in order for them to continue to be eligible for Medicaid.

Now, currently there's a backlog in the system for that work validation, and the new federal requirements will require an even more frequent work validation.

So here's an example of a place where we will need to create, you know, major efficiencies and a focus on effectiveness, otherwise, Virginians will lose healthcare.

And so bringing that mindset to all of our state agencies and to the work of leading the s is how I view the job and an example of the types of t I'm thinking about now.

JAHD KHALIL: So, how can you make life more affordable with so much help and funds going out of the system?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Yeah, well, I'm looking at it in sort of two different pieces, right?

One will be the fiscal impact on the state of, you know, changes because of either the, you know, the Big Beautiful Bill or also the impact of DOGE.

So many Virginians who've lost their jobs — certainly, even UVA's projecting that in 2026, Virginia will have no notable jo Already, we know over the past seven months, we have had increased rates of unemployment each month.

So we're already looking at challenges as it relates to, kind of, tax revenue coming in addition to the One Big Beaut meaning $26 billion out of our healthcare system.

You know, and then there's the separate priorities of lowering costs.

The good news is that many of the priorities that I'm pursuing to lower costs are, in fact, themselves cost-neutral.

Some of it is, you know, legislative efforts, removing some hurdles from localities that might, you know, in the housing space that might wish to have greater flexibility in the housing they create and build.

In the healthcare space, ensuring that people can use the pharmacies of their choices or ensuring that PBMs aren't sort of blocking markets and eliminating competition.

Some of these policies, many of the policies, in my affordability plan are an issue of governance comin of the state administration or legislative priorities to push through the General Asse that, you know, in and of themselves are cost-neutral.

JAHD KHALIL: How willing are you find other revenue sources, like changing or adding new taxe There was a digital tax that was that ended up not making it thro and there's been sort of longstanding discussion about making Virginia's income tax more progressive.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Yeah you kno I think when you look at Virginia's tax system, certainly we haven't had updates to our tax system in many, many decades in a subst (clears throat) excuse me, a meaningful way.

We also have some taxes on the b that have been there since the 1700s and the early 1800s.

So I think principally what I'm is where are we going to be on our fiscal trajectory.

We'll certainly know a lot more, even at the end of September, when we start to see how many more people might have taken that early retirement from the DOGE process, in addition to those who were fired kind of, at a point in time.

But looking towards the future, you know, I certainly am trying to determine what might be the revenue sources that might be additive but also what taxes could we eli You know, certainly, you know, looking at the car tax as one.

It's a complicated issue, and certainly, I think that your and viewers know that, but it is probably the most hated tax in all of the Commonwealth.

But, you know, the key is how is it that we can ensure the revenues are able to pay for our schools and our first responders and, kind of, the requirements of our communities, but also that there is a fairnes and, as it relates to the car tax, not the yearly or biannual headache depending upon the locality you JAHD KHALIL: Virginia determines how much the local school district needs by calculating its staffing need and that's sort of unusual across the country.

One alternative is to make that more student-based, you know, which funds districts according to a per-student cost.

Is that something that you would be in favor of?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Certainly, as a question of what works, we've seen many districts, or many states, across the country employ that method.

But specific to Virginia, there's a JLARC study that evaluated, I believe it's about two years old, almost two years old at this poi that looked at the student-based for funding schools and made recommendations about t being the most effective.

So again, in this moment of a bit of, kind of, disruption, I think it's both a time where we need the governor to keep us steady but also to look at where are pl we can make substantial improvem So it is something I have been digging deep into, both the JLARC study that's been out for some time, but then also the examples of st that have moved to a student-bas school funding structure.

JAHD KHALIL: A big part of affordability is energy, and this is going to be a huge challenge for the state.

Data centers are a big reason fo They use tons of energy, and we have more and more of them across the state.

The State Corporation Commission is already considering higher utility rates for Virgini So that obviously impacts afford And, you know, there's some spec that the climate goals that Virg and the Virginia Clean Economy Act are going to make it hard to balance that with reliability and energy prices and so forth.

How do you think that the Virginia Clean Economy Act should be revisited or reformed, if at all?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: As it relates to the Virginia Clean Economy Act, I think that there's a real need to — to be clear, I support the legislation and the principles behind it.

I do think that there are areas where we can make some updates, in fact, based on increased tech At the time that that bill went into — became law, you know, notably even battery storage capacity and capabilities is not what we know it to be today.

So putting into place some provi that account for the strength of battery storage, that incorporate newer technolog I think, is one important thing.

You know, I've heard discussions you know, doubts as to whether we can meet the goals, so do we just abandon it?

I think that would be a mistake.

It's a question of revisiting, “How can we continue to meet those goals in a changing landscape and recognizing the sort of dire circumstance for so many families of rising c You know, as it relates to risin what we really principally need is generate more energy here at And it's exciting that Virginia's going to be home to the largest offshore wind ins that ideally should begin initial generation of energy in the new year.

But we need to continue to demonstrate leadership in the area of energy generation and also ensure that high energy such as data centers, are paying their fair share.

And so, looking at the SCC case going through, I think is an important element to see if, in the end, we will have a separate rate for high energy users, principally data centers.

JAHD KHALIL: In your energy plan, you talk about common-sense locations for solar sites.

I think abandoned mines was one.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Yeah.

JAHD KHALIL: And that sort of th Would you support legislation that opens up those, you know, by right, instead of the current process of having to go through localities to site solar?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: I think where we are right now is in a place where there's a lot of information that some of our localities that might be wishing to make decisions about solar may not have all the full inform As someone who served my whole time in Congress on the Agriculture Committee, you know, knowing agriculture is Virginia's number one private and knowing that there exists a great level of concern about taking agricultural lands out of produc for the purpose of industrial so you know, I recognize why many localities across Virginia might have kind of started to sa that they want to reject solar coming into their communities.

However, there are many location across the Commonwealth, such as abandoned mine sites or non-productive, non-agricultural lands, where we could bring forth solar, creating, you know, important revenue streams for localities.

And importantly, you know, being to lowering the cost for communi surrounding those sites.

And so what I do think the state needs to implement, and I would as governor, is a statewide strategy recognizing that the sites that solar energy developers are going to want to come to are sites where they can put that energy onto the grid.

So location matters, installation capacity and availability matters.

And frankly, this is a place whe our localities need to be working in concert with Virginia Economic Development Partnership also, to make clear that we are active participants in making, you know, communities and localities aware of the places, the resources that could be viable options to bring that type of investment and in doing so, allay some of the concerns that they may have related to, you know, loss of productive agricultural lands.

JAHD KHALIL: During this administration, there's been a turn away from directly addressing the leg and lasting effects of racism to a certain degree.

How would you do that differentl ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: I think that I would want our st Well, as governor, it will be my priority to ensure that we are teaching the full history of our Commonwealth and of our c You know, certainly even looking at Virginia as the very specific example, you know, we are the place where of the birth of our nation and our founding documents were created, were dreamed upon.

We're also the place where, you know, slavery first came to the shores of what's now the United States of America.

And you can teach, and you can make sure that people understand that fulsome history together.

And one does not negate the othe In fact, understanding the history of our country, and importantly, the history of especially as we're coming up upon the 250th anniversary of our country, is essential.

And so, you know, I certainly, as governor, would want to ensure that every kid in school is understanding the full history of who we are.

And that, you know, there was a bill, as an example, to have African American history, you know, an AP course, count towards some of the history requirements towards graduation.

And that effort was, you know, not supported by the current gov You know, one of my daughters is taking that course, and she's loving it, and she's learning so much.

And I think that it's important that we recognize that, you know, all aspects of our his and the ways that we're allowing our students to explore, you know, the good and the bad and the reality of our history is how we truly learn from it.

JAHD KHALIL: Race has kind of been a big part of the way that higher education institutio have experienced politics in the you know, several months, especially with sort of the forc departure of UVA President Jim R You would have the opportunity to appoint people to the Board of Visitors.

How would this recent history af who you were appointing?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Yeah, I think principally, as it relates to the universitie the public universities where the governor has the appointment ability to appoint the full board, and certainly, we've seen the ch at the University of Virginia.

But we also saw the challenges a where the board forced out the first Black superintendent, who every year prior had receive you know, commendations for the extraordinary work that he had done, having returne the place he graduated from, after a long career and storied, you know, successfu career in the military, rising to the rank of general.

And now we're seeing ongoing cha at George Mason University.

The role of governor is to appoi who want to strengthen the unive that they will be serving on the It is not to drive any ideology or particular political goals of a governor or an administration.

And so what I will be looking at in the decisions I'm making about board appointments is, ‘who wants to strengthen our public universities, who wants to make sure that, you they are having a long-term view for what it means to be successf That means bringing in students.

That means being drivers of Virginia's economy.

That means graduating strong cit into our, you know, community, who might stay in Virginia, start businesses in Virginia, raise families in Virginia, or, if they go someplace else upon graduation, you know, reflect fondly of thei studying here in our commonwealt And really, my goal is to appoin who are dedicated to strengtheni our public universities.

Full stop.

JAHD KHALIL: Can you talk about your plan to drive jobs to Virginia or expand the ones that are here ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Absolutely.

So, particularly during the time of economic instability, and, you know, we know that this Virginia lost our place as the number one place for business, according to CNBC.

And notably, in their explanation of that change, one of the indicators or reasons for that decision was the loss of jobs because of the DOGE attacks.

Recognizing that the landscape has become a bit difficult in Vi and the rest of the country because of DOGE, because of trade policy from the White House, you know, the list goes on and o the role of governor, I think, is to endeavor to make the state as steady as we possib and to look at the types of thin that businesses are looking for when they are looking to make in Its workforce.

What's the strength of our workf Are they ready to take the jobs you know, whatever business might be brought to a particular community?

Or its the school infrastructur if they're looking to bring people to a community?

Certainly, chief among those que are what's the schooling like for our kids and what's housing like for our Depending upon the type of business, it's infrastructure.

It's transportation capacity.

Infrastructure includes electric and broadband connectivity.

And so, as governor, I will work tirelessly to make sure that every opportun to strengthen the components that make Virginia the top place to choose.

Affordable childcare is... You know, that those things, I'm thinking of the reality that they all go hand in hand, because they do when we're looking to bring investment to Virginia and, ultimately, additional jobs JAHD KHALIL: A lot of the housing policies that you're proposing are geared towards increasing su One was incentivizing bonding authority for localities.

And, you know, I think that's kind of a big deal.

Can you explain what that means and how that is going to increas ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Yeah.

And I think this goes with the.. there's a number of elements of our housing plan that put choice and ownership over expanding housing directly on localities.

Certainly, as a Dillon Rule stat sometimes our localities are lim in the things that they can do.

And so to have a locality be able to underwrite and financially support new proj or the components necessary to build in — or bring forth a new housing project is important.

Allowing localities to be able to very quickly rezone and turn over buildings that might have previously been in manufacturing or, you know, some sort of other to turn that into housing.

The types of flexibility that our localities can and should have, I think, can drive local-based solutions that meet the needs of a particular community.

I recognize that, you know, it's not a one-size-fits-all app It's kind of something that's a little bit oversaid, but if you've spent any time traveling across Virginia, so many of our communities are very different.

And the solution for Abingdon is not the solution for Arlingto But ensuring that, you know, ali they both have the opportunities to really drive on, you know, the types of housing development or growth, whether it's high-rises, whether it's apartment buildings, whether it's new residential dev that all of those opportunities and, you know, decisions are imp but enabling localities to be able to do it and support them is a priority f JAHD KHALIL: This is an important election.

Every time we have an election, we always hear it's the most important ever, but obviously, there's always stakes involved.

Can you talk about what the stakes are in this election and how that should influence people's choice when they go to the ballot box?

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Well, I think the decision in this election is a consequential one because there are very significant differences between the policies that I'm pu and the ideas that I'm putting f than the ones that I am hearing from my opponent.

You know, chief among them, as so many people are talking about issues of affordability, not only was the first plan that focused on affordability and lowering costs, but I also recognize the real dire circumstances of the position we may be facing into the future because of DOGE, because of tari because of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.

And you cannot contend with threats to your economy.

You cannot contend with real fis if you don't even, kind of, assess them as real, or if you are choosing, as I would say my opponent is, to kind of put loyalty to a president and his talking points above the real economic impact on Virginians.

And so, in addition to having a to address issues of costs, you know, I also want to put Virginia on path towards strengthening our public ensuring we have the best in the And my opponent, for her entire career in politics, has focused on defunding public Issues of basic rights.

You know, I support the constitutional amendments that are moving forward to ensure restoration of rights for someone who's been through our criminal justice system.

Certainly, Virginia is among the very worst in the nation for permanently disenfranchising Virginia still has a ban on same-sex marriage in our state constitution, and I support removing that.

My opponent has said she's morally opposed to it.

And Virginia has a constitutiona amendment moving forward related to codifying, essentiall the standard of Roe v. Wade to e that, you know, women and their and their medical providers can make their own independent d without undue influence from the government or from people in politics.

And my opponent has also said she's morally opposed to that.

So, you know, on issues of polic the choice is very different.

But also, it's an issue of leadership at this moment, where we do see chaos coming out of Washington, whether it's in policy or just in the divisive rhetoric.

I believe that Virginia needs a who wants to be steady and focused on ensuring that Virgini continues to be a great place to raise a family, a great place to make a business investment, to grow a business, to attract b or to, you know, retire.

And so, I'm focused on the actua brass tacks elements of how we d And I think that when, you know, making the comparison side-by-si of who's going to lead the commonwealth at this time, you know, particularly when we see a real tension within our politics, I would argue that I am the better choice to demonstrate and continue to demonstrate that type of leadership.

It's certainly the background of service to the country that I bring from my time as an intelligence officer and a federal agent.

But also, it's a demonstrated sk that I brought to my time on Cap when I was the most bipartisan member of Congress from Virginia.

And what that meant is I was building out coalitions constantly and consistently to just get things done to benefit the people I served in Congress.

And so, I'm, you know, looking forward to this election.

It's an exciting time.

And with early voting beginning, I hope that Virginians understan that we have such an extraordinary opportunity to be among the first in the nat to go to the polling places.

2025, it's just Virginia and New Jersey with statewide el And so it's a responsibility, but it's also an exciting time.