CNN: Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill “Lead a Democratic Revival”

CNN: Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill “Lead a Democratic Revival”

New reporting from CNN explains how Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaigns “lead a Democratic revival” in Virginia and New Jersey. Per CNN, both candidates’ national security backgrounds, ability to win in swing congressional districts, and laser focus on affordability have helped the Democratic Party “find its footing.”

Check out CNN’s reporting here, or read more below:

• Now, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill are seeking to spur another Democratic revival. Their respective races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey offer potential lessons for the party as it tries to rise from political exile and find a pathway back to power.

• “What we will do this November is not just vote against something, but we will vote for the policies that we believe in,” Spanberger told a crowded rally here this week. “Are you ready to win?”

• “This one’s too important,” Sherrill told supporters on a recent night, hoping to impress upon them the urgency of the moment. “Make sure no one sits this out.”

• It was 2018 when Spanberger, a former federal agent and CIA officer, was elected to a Congressional seat in central Virginia long held by Republicans. Her national security credentials and more centrist views appealed to suburban voters turned off by Trump.

• Her biography and a lifelong commitment to service is at the center of her bid for governor, where polls show she is leading Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

• In New Jersey, Sherrill was also part of the class of Democratic candidates in 2018 whose national security credentials were at the heart of their quest to win seats once held by Republicans.

• Spanberger, 46, and Sherrill, 53, forged a friendship after arriving on Capitol Hill. They became roommates and still have a running conversation about their respective races and how both could become the first Democratic female governor of their state. (The winner between Spanberger and Earle-Sears will make history as Virginia’s first female governor.)

• “Here’s somebody who comes from that national service background like I do. Someone who’s a mom, like I am. She has three kids, I have four,” Sherrill said in an interview. “I don’t think either of us thought we were going to run for office until in 2018 we felt called to serve again and have been in it ever since.”

• “[Trump] told people he would drive down their costs. I think a lot of people feel very let down,” Sherrill said. “As he’s raising their costs, he’s making billions of dollars. That is really speaking to people who say this is not some guy who has my interest at heart.”

• As the fall campaign heads into the home stretch, more than a dozen Democratic voters in Virginia and New Jersey told CNN they feel hopeful the party is starting to gain confidence and find its footing one year after a punishing loss that sent Trump back to the White House.

• “It will rebuild itself. It just takes time,” said Barbara Lee, a retiree from Staunton, Virginia, who waited in line to see Spanberger at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville. “We need new leadership. Abigail can start us off.”

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