Spanberger Runs to Northam's "Right" on Campaign Finance & Ethics Reform

"Yet here we are, nearly a decade later, and Spanberger has positioned herself to the “right” of two-time George W. Bush voter Northam on these issues."

Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) sat down with reporter Ben Paviour in January of 2022 to reflect on his gubernatorial term. Paviour, one of a handful of Virginia reporters particularly zeroed in on campaign finance issues, asked Northam about Virginia’s corrupt campaign finance system:

PAVIOUR: You campaigned on reining in Virginia's campaign finance laws, some of the loosest in the country and yet Democrats held power, nothing changed. Why do you think there hasn't been movement on that issue?

NORTHAM: I think that's something that the people are going to need to stand up and say, you know, we want change. And that's again, that's how, as public leaders, you know, we direct what policy we’re proposing and then gets passed. I've always been a proponent for comprehensive finance, or campaign finance reform. It didn't happen in my four years. Again, if I'd have four more years, it's something that I would continue to work on. But it will be something for future administrations…

As Paviour noted, Northam campaigned in 2017 on reforming Virginia’s campaign finance and ethics laws while emphasizing his earlier advocacy for ethics reform. As Dave Ress reported in 2017 after a Norfolk primary debate between Northam and former Rep. Tom Perriello (VA-05):

Asked about ethics reform in the wake of the scandal over former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s acceptance of gifts from a businessman seeking favors, both called for a crackdown on Virginia’s lax campaign finance laws.

“We should be appalled at how we finance our elections,” Perriello said, calling for either public funding of campaigns or caps on donations.

“It’s been the wild, wild west,” Northam said, adding that he would ban corporate donations and cap individual donations at $10,000.

Perriello repeated his opposition to Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, while Northam noted he had pushed for the Department of Environmental Quality to do site-specific permitting, to focus on the impact the line could have on streams and other sensitive areas, as opposed to the blanket permit the agency would normally do.

Northam’s campaign website in 2017 included commitments to banning “contributions to candidates or committees from corporations and businesses” and capping “contributions at $10,000 from all donors except political party committees.”

His website also included commitments to mandating “donor disclosure for nonprofits seeking to influence Virginia’s elections” and supporting “a federal constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.”

He also included a commitment to “reform the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) by increasing accountability and promoting long term strategic planning in order to continue streamlining economic development across state agencies.”

Once elected, however, Northam never got the opportunity to sign any remarkable legislation on campaign finance or ethics reform, despite Democrats controlling both chambers of the General Assembly for half of his term.

This wasn’t for lack of trying: multiple delegates and state senators introduced campaign finance reform legislation during Northam’s term, but then House of Delegates Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) and then State Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) ensured no reform legislation made it to the governor’s desk. In fact, most of the legislation was killed in subcommittee or full committee, with the complicity of subcommittee and committee chairs entirely dependent on leadership for these coveted positions.

Spanberger 2025

Eight years after the Northam campaign, Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger has seemingly ignored the fundamental democratic issues of campaign finance and ethics reform in Virginia. At the same time, the Democratic Party is trying to represent itself as an anti-corruption party, the only political party interested in democracy or good governance.

As a member of Congress, Spanberger swore off contributions from corporate political action committees (Politifact VA), though unlike in federal elections, corporations can give unlimited funds directly to campaigns in Virginia. She also supported the For the People Act, an unsuccessful attempt in part at federal campaign finance reform. Spanberger made central her efforts to ban congressional stock trading, efforts which continue in the U.S. House now that she’s left.

Spanberger’s gubernatorial website, as far as I can tell, only touches on these issues in one place: the “Making State Government More Transparent” page. All we get here is this paragraph:

Abigail is focused on restoring trust in Virginia’s state government and eliminating conflicts of interest. In Congress, Abigail built a reputation for working with both Democrats and Republicans to clean up corruption and reduce conflicts of interest in Washington. She led a bipartisan effort to ban Members of Congress — as well as their spouses — from buying, selling, or trading individual stocks. As Governor, she will work to make Virginia’s state government more accessible to the Virginians it serves.

So the positive vision here boils down to the platitudinal “make Virginia’s state government more accessible.” Journalist Brandon Jarvis was able to extract more from Spanberger on campaign finance reform in an interview last month.

From the interview:

She was also asked about campaign finance laws in Virginia, where virtually no restrictions exist.

“Throughout all of my time in politics, when I was running for Congress and now as a candidate for governor, I hear time and time again that people feel like there's no place for them in the political discussion or discourse,” Spanberger said.

“It's one of the reasons why, as a member of Congress, I prioritized important ethics reform and campaign finance reform,” she continued. “As a candidate for Congress, I never took corporate PAC money, and I led the charge and wrote the original bill to ban members of Congress from being able to buy, sell or trade individual stocks as a way to certainly contend with any potential corruption.”

Spanberger did not provide specific details about any plans to reform campaign finance laws if elected governor.

“I continue to be focused on issues of ethics reform and campaign finance reforms, and looking at what can be a better fit moving forward to ensure that Virginians in every corner of our commonwealth know that the people they're electing are going to Richmond and focusing on how to actually solve problems, how to ensure that they are hearing all sides of an argument on any given issue and making what they deem to be the best decision possible,” she said.

Again, no specifics. Just another attempt to run on the fumes of a congressional record that didn’t result in actual legal reforms.

Comments from Spanberger

Though Spanberger’s own website doesn’t give voters much to work with on these issues, Clean Virginia has devoted an entire page to Spanberger’s “Shared Vision for Virginia's Future.” Clean Virginia, a 501(c)(4) with an associated PAC funded by Charlottesville multi-millionaire Michael Bills, has endorsed Spanberger and donated $200,000 to her campaign so far.

Part of this “shared vision” includes a section on “Government Accountability & Transparency.” Again, the focus here is on her congressional record, with an added commitment to ban the personal use of campaign funds in Virginia.

Legislation to ban the personal use of campaign funds passed the General Assembly this year, was signed into law by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R), and is now in effect.

Notably, Clean Virginia’s Standard Funding Program requires candidates “hold a principled stance against accepting political contributions from, or owning stock in, state-regulated electric utility monopolies, their top executives and their employed lobbyists.” Yet they’re supporting Spanberger despite her campaign accepting thousands of dollars from Dominion Energy’s top executives, and despite her lack of a public reform agenda on their key issues.

To my knowledge, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) hasn’t articulated any sort of campaign finance or ethics reform agenda. Instead, her campaign has attacked Spanberger on ethics issues, claiming Spanberger pushed “a calculated lie.”

Northam’s GOP opponent in the 2017 general election, Ed Gillespie, proposed a set of reforms including to “prohibit gifts to the governor and his family, cabinet members and administration appointees,” “ban personal use of campaign funds, “prohibit bait and switch campaign finance practices,” and “extend the ‘revolving door’ lobbying ban through the end of the administration.”

Yet here we are, nearly a decade later, and Spanberger has positioned herself to the “right” of two-time George W. Bush voter Northam on these issues, offering as little policy to the voters as Earle-Sears offers.

This while the Democratic Party tries to make the (correct) case that Washington is defined by widespread corruption and authoritarianism — and the (weak) case that the Party will fix the root problems.

However we explain Spanberger’s position, the debasement of these issues on the 2025 campaign trail sends an ominous signal to voters, a signal not just of party hypocrisy but of a broader democratic backsliding.