Virginia elects a governor later this year, and the off-year election is already getting attention because it's seen as a bellwether of President Trump's cost-cutting ways. As the Christian Science Monitor reports, the politics aren't that complicated: The state has a ton of federal workers—more than 144,000—and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has been slashing federal jobs left and right. The race is expected to pit former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
"We are so used to talking about national politics at a 30,000-foot level where it's all theoretical, and we don't see and feel the impact," says Dominic Thompson, executive director of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. The firings "are not just a theoretical thing here in northern Virginia. There are federal workers all over the place. … Every single person up here is talking about this." Republicans, on the other hand, suggest that's overstated and say the DOGE cuts will only help with the base.
"I am glad that President Trump is getting to the bottom of all of this," says Earle-Sears, who maintains that Virginia's private sector can provide jobs for those who lose them. The state, in fact, has launched a website geared to that end. Who ends up being right may depend on exactly how many federal workers in the state lose their jobs. Earle-Sears, meanwhile, has just gained a challenger for the GOP nomination from the right, notes the Washington Post. Former state lawmaker Dave LaRock is a staunch Trump supporter who promises cuts to "wasteful spending" and government regulations. (More Virginia stories.)
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