Virginia Governors Race: Shotdown shakes policy in the state that houses 300,000 federal workers

Chantilly, Virginie
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The closure of the federal government – and the growing battle on which the party has the most blame – has injected a new major question mark in the governor’s race in Virginia, which houses hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

The early vote is already underway in the race between the former Democratic representative Abigail Spanberger and the Lieutenant Républicain WinSome Earle-Sears. In addition to the breed of the governor of New Jersey, he represents a year a critical gauge of the country’s political mood in the presidency of Donald Trump.

The state is home to more than 300,000 federal workers – more than any other state except Maryland. This reality means that anxiety concerning government closures and their economic benefits are particularly deep in the densely populated suburbs of North Virginia outside Washington, DC.

Mike Magee, a former retirement entrepreneur with Aldie’s 72 -year -old, said that he was thinking about the threat of a stop on Tuesday when he voted at the start of Spanberger.

“If we stop, we lose essential services that are important. As a taxpayers, we lose the services of people who do the work we budget, and it’s just a shame that the parties cannot work together to find a way to keep the government,” he said. “I absolutely blame the Republicans.”

He said he thought Spanberger is an impressive candidate but also wanted to “send a message to our country that we need a change of direction”.

Robert, a 71 -year -old navy veteran in Leesburg who asked to be identified only by his first name, said that a closure was “one of the things in my mind” when he voted on Tuesday.

“If the government is closed, you can blame it on (Senator Chuck) Schumer,” he said. “He wants everything to go back to the way it was under Joe Biden, and this is not the direction in which this country should go.”

The races for the governor in Virginia are often considered as barometers of the national mood: the state limits governors to a term, so it is always a race for opening. Formerly a republican state, Virginia now promotes democrats in the presidential elections but remains competitive, as the republican governor Glenn Youngkin proved it with his victory in 2021.

Already, the Trump administration has reduced many federal jobs thanks to dismissals and buyouts led by the Ministry of Efficiency. The threat of new cuts is looming after a service note published last week by the White House budget office said that a closure would serve as legal justification to sweep new layoffs.

“Given the impact of prices, the impact of Doge, the imminent impact of the so-called` a great and beautiful bill, as a candidate for the governor, I focused on the fact that a government closure is only an additional element that will create and continue to create disastrous circumstances for so many virginians, “Spanberger told The Hill this week.

Earle -Sears was one of the 14 Republican lieutenants who signed a letter dated on Monday to the leaders of the Senate in the two parties, calling on the Democrats to support a “clean” continuous resolution to maintain the funded government in November – the approach favored by the Congress Republicans.

“It is the Democrats who hold this when everything we want is a continuous continuous resolution so that we can continue to negotiate,” she told CNN at a campaign event last week.

The threat of a closure could force the two governors’ campaigns to focus on the same problem-a rarity in a race that saw Spanberger seek to drive an economic and affordable message, linking Earle-Sets to Trump policies, while Earle-Sears hammered its democratic rival on cultural issues, including participation in youth sports. An announcement throws Spanberger like “for them / them, not for us”.

However, CNN’s conversations with the first voters have clearly indicated that a closure, and the battle that followed on who is to be blamed, is far from the only factor considered by voters – many of whom were decided a long time ago.

Peter Gustafson, a 72 -year -old retirement graphic designer who lives near Leesburg, said “of course” that he thought of the closure when he voted for Spanberger on Tuesday.

However, he said, the closure has not changed his opinion on the governor’s race.

“I think it is the best alternative to the criminal we have in the White House right now,” he said.

David Mohr, a 68-year-old information technology professional in Leesburg, said that Earle-Sears was his choice because “his values, in terms of Virginia’s trip, protecting our children at school-these are important to me”.

He said he was not sure of the party he blamed for the closure.

“It’s just, like, for the course,” he said.