What Gov. Abigail Spanberger Is Likely to Say in Her Response to Trump’s State of the Union

Democrats are hoping that Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s message on affordability will resonate with the nation when she delivers their party’s response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night.

The reply provides Democrats with a prime opportunity to argue their case against Trump and his policies ahead of the midterm elections.

Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November, which saw her flip a Republican-held office, was considered by party officials as vindication of a disciplined message focused on cost-cutting — one they now want to promote in national campaigns.

Abigail Spanberger wrote in a statement

“Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring,” Spanberger wrote in a statement.I’m looking forward to outlining what these Americans want and deserve: leaders that work hard to deliver for them.”

According to her team, Spanberger will deliver the speech from Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum with rebuilt 18th-century structures, citing the site’s role in Virginia’s early rebellion to British control and tying that legacy to the current political context.

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Spanberger’s speech marks the seventh time a female senator or governor has spoken to a president’s address to Congress.

Trump stated

On Monday, Trump stated that his State of the Union speech will be lengthy due to the extensive topics covered.

As viewership tends to decline as the speech progresses, the response has become one of the most dangerous tasks in politics. Marco Rubio, the current Secretary of State, was widely criticised for reaching for a water bottle during the GOP rebuttal in 2013. Other rebuttals were swiftly forgotten.

Despite the time deficit, Democrats claim that the political winds are turning in their favour. Following Spanberger’s victory in Virginia, more high-profile Democratic triumphs occurred, including a special election earlier this month in Texas, in which a Democrat flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district that Trump won by 17 percentage points in 2024.

Democratic senator Alex Padilla of California will provide the party’s Spanish-language answer. Padilla, who was removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles in June after attempting to speak out against immigration raids, said in a statement that there is a better path than the one Trump has proposed: “one that lowers costs, safeguards our democracy, and reins in rogue federal agencies.”

Padilla, speaking at a press conference with Senate Democrats on Tuesday, stated that Trump’s speech would include a “call to action.”

“No one is coming to save us. “Only Americans will save America,” Padilla declared. “That will be the contrast to the lies and deceptions of President Trump tonight.”

Some Democrats are opting to make a point by skipping Trump’s speech. Counterprogramming activities are planned, including a “State of the Swamp” with Democratic legislators, state and municipal officials, and celebrities.