If Zohran Mamdani, rather than Abigail Spanberger, had won the governorship of Virginia, what would be different?  

After Democrats lost Congress in 2022, an irritated Spanberger warned her then-colleagues that throwing around words such as “socialist” or “socialism” had been disastrous. “Because while people think it doesn’t matter,” she explained, many “good” Democrats running in competitive districts had lost seats. 

But it’s not as if Spanberger was annoyed by ideology. After all, her record at the time aligned nearly seamlessly with members of the left-wing ‘Squad.’ It’s perception that drives politics.

True to her word, never once did Spanberger utter the word “socialism” while running for Virginia governor last year. Her ads were awash with conservative themes, stressing her family roots, law enforcement background, and her uncanny, largely imaginary, ability to work with the opposition party. One of the political upsides of running against weak candidates, and Republicans were pathetic in Virginia, is that you’re never really compelled to outline an........

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