‘Backyard brawl’ ignites as West Virginia's Morrissey moves to poach blue state rival Spanberger's jobs
TABLER STATION, W.V. — Virginia’s shift toward higher taxes and new regulations is triggering an interstate economic "brawl," as West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey moves to lure businesses and workers across the border.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has promoted an "affordability agenda," but a wave of proposed tax increases and regulatory changes from legislative Democrats has opened an opportunity for neighboring states to compete for businesses and residents.
Even though some of these proposals never made it to Spanberger's desk or claimed her signature, the political climate has prompted West Virginia officials to actively target Virginia’s workforce and employers, pitching lower taxes and fewer regulations as a competitive alternative.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Morrisey said he plans to take that pitch directly into Virginia communities, including Loudoun County, to draw businesses and workers into West Virginia.
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"We're going to be spending some time in Loudoun County and all across Virginia on making the pitch and the comparison of the direction that West Virginia is moving in [and] the direction Virginia is going in," Morrisey told Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the announcement of a new 275-acre commercial tax district he said will bring $200 million in economic investment to the three-county Eastern Panhandle region.
"The backyard brawl for our state’s future is being won both at the kitchen table and in the marketplace," Morrisey said, noting that the Tabler Station project he unveiled is just one of many similar plans-in-action around the state.
The area is home to West Virginia’s nationally-prevalent apple industry — to the point the local high school team is the "Musselman Applemen." The area also boasts major industrial plants including a major Clorox facility that is advertising job openings to passersby on Interstate 81.
"While Virginia chooses to burden its citizens and job creators with higher taxes, West Virginia is choosing freedom, fiscal responsibility, and a tax climate that makes our state more competitive for business than our neighbor."
Morrisey said he and his allies in Charleston’s GOP supermajority are making all of West Virginia "open for business."
He added that Berkeley and adjacent Jefferson County — which border both Loudoun County in Virginia and Washington County in high-tax Maryland — should be a model for what regional business and tourism should look like.
The governor also alluded to a growing trend of Washington, D.C.-area workers moving into West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, despite long commutes and limited rail service.
"The difference between Virginia and West Virginia couldn’t be more clear," he said. "West Virginia is coming for a lot of those businesses that would ordinarily locate in Virginia."
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger for comment.
The Democratic governor has noted she did not sign several proposed tax measures that never reached her desk, though she did approve a minimum wage increase and higher payroll contributions for family leave.
State Sen. Jason Barrett, R-Martinsburg — who crafted the economic development plans earning Morrisey's signature — said more people are already coming to his area along the Virginia line to "spend money, support local businesses and really help economic development."
Barrett's new law includes a framework for the state to create special tax districts in which a portion of state revenues is redirected to counties — as only the legislature has the power to implement tax structures. It enacts
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The law stipulates that redirected taxes may not "adversely effect" the state budget. Barrett's law creates additional economic districts in Harpers Ferry, Henderson, Bridgeport, Princeton, Beckley and Wheeling.
With the new residents and a broader tax base, Morrisey said he hopes areas like Berkeley and Jefferson increase their visibility as a "travel destination" and one for youth sporting events for which the Tabler Station district revenue will be used to create – accruing even more financial benefits for West Virginians.
While Richmond was seeking tax hikes, Morrisey in April signed a 5% income tax cut across the board and brought Charleston’s tax code in line with President Donald Trump’s federal tax-cut provisions.
Morrisey told the crowd in Tabler Station that it won’t be his last visit to the Virginia borderlands on the economic development front, adding separately to Fox News Digital that statewide he projects 12,000 new jobs to have been added in the past six months amid a total of $12.5 billion in private-sector investment.
Spanberger, meanwhile, announced Monday that she would be taking her own "economic development" tour of Virginia, saying in a statement that "from day one, my focus has been building an economy that works for every Virginian and delivers real results for families, businesses, and communities."
Spanberger said her administration has already made tour-stops in Harrisonburg and Fairfax to promote "bringing people together to shape a clear, forward-looking plan."
While parts of West Virginia, particularly in the south, continue to struggle with long-term shifts in the energy industry, population growth and rising state revenues have enabled broad tax cuts — sharpening the contrast with neighboring Virginia’s push toward new taxes and regulations.