Dem rising star's SOTU rebuttal ripped by conservatives: ‘Anyone who claims she is a “moderate" is a liar’
Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger was widely panned by conservatives on social media over her rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, with many calling out the governor for labeling herself as a "moderate" during the campaign but changing her tune.
Spanberger’s speech contained several examples of supporting far-left causes that drew criticism online, including school walkouts over ICE, touting "affordability" despite pushing to raise taxes and slamming Trump.
Her overall speech quickly drew heat from conservatives online over her policies and her tone.
"This Spanberger speech can basically be summed up as ‘I AM A DEMOCRAT WHO IS MODERATE AND NORMAL. PLEASE BELIEVE I AM MODERATE AND NORMAL,’" Mark Hemingway, senior writer for Real Clear Investigations, posted on X.
WHO IS ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, AND WHY DID DEMOCRATS CHOOSE HER FOR THEIR STATE OF THE UNION RESPONSE?
"Abigail Spanberger comes off like the radical psychopath she is," Matthew Boyle, Washington Bureau Chief for Breitbart News, posted on X. "Anyone who claims she is a ‘moderate’ is a liar. Plain and simple."
"Abigail Spanberger campaigned as a moderate but governs as a left-wing activist," GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn posted on X. "There is no room for moderates in today’s Democrat party."
"It's despicable to hear Abigail Spanberger speak so plainly like a supposed moderate when she's governing with a legislature that's more akin to Gavin Newsom in California or, say, Maura Healy in Massachusetts," Newsbusters managing editor Curtis Houck posted on X.
"Spanberger passed exactly one test," Ruthless podcast co-host Josh Holmes posted on X. "A year from now you’ll have absolutely no idea who gave the Democrat response."
"Abigail Spanberger tanks," Trump-Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell posted on X. "She’s so nervous. It’s like she didn’t practice the actual speech."
"The focus of Abigail Spanberger's rebuttal is ‘affordability’ as her party proposes sweeping tax hikes on nearly every sector of the Virginia economy," Daily Caller senior editor Amber Duke posted on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger’s office for comment.
A top Republican told Fox News Digital earlier this week that Spanberger would never have been given airtime in the Democrats’ official response to Trump’s State of the Union if it weren’t for her support of the commonwealth’s controversial redistricting and adherence to the party line.
"Our president has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities, where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans," Spanberger said during her speech. "They have done it without a warrant. They have ripped nursing mothers away from their babies. They have sent children — a little boy in a blue bunny hat — to far-off detention centers, and they have killed American citizens in our streets.
"And they have done it all with their faces masked from accountability," she continued. "Every minute spent sowing fear is a minute not spent investigating murders, crimes against children or the criminals defrauding seniors of their life savings."
At one point in her speech, Spanberger appeared to briefly lose her place on the teleprompter:
"But as the President spoke of his perceived successes tonight, he continues to cede economic power and technological strength to Russia ... bow down to ... China ...to bow down to a Russian dictator, and make plans for war with Iran," she said, as her prepared remarks cited China as the technological rival.
Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz contributed to this report.