Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2020

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) joins David to discuss her career as a CIA operations officer and federal law enforcement agent, the series of events that drove her to run for public office in 2018, and why she ultimately chose to support the impeachment of President Trump. She also weighs in on what having Sen. Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee would mean for her reelection campaign, what it is like to be a member of Congress in a polarized environment, and more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with your host, David Axelrod.
0:15.0	Music
0:19.0	On election night 2018, one of the key indicators that it was going to be a big night for Democrats was the election of Abigail Spanberger to the U.S. Congress from the seventh district of Virginia, a district that was traditionally Republican, that takes in suburban areas around Richmond, Virginia, she won, despite the fact that Donald Trump had carried that district.
0:44.0	It's been an eventful 14 months for Representative Spanberger, who has a remarkable story of her own as a CIA operative and as an agent for the U.S. Postal Inspector Service.
0:55.0	I sat down with her in Washington the other day to talk about how she's navigating these very polarized times in a very, very difficult district.
1:04.0	Music
1:10.0	Abigail Spanberger, it's so good to see you. We were chatting before we got started. One of the ways that I was gauging how the night was going in November of 2018, in that election was these districts in Virginia, including yours, that turned blue.
1:28.0	I've been following you closely since then, and so it's a great to be with you. It's nice to be with you. I appreciate you inviting me.
1:38.0	Yeah, I'm a big homeland fan, so I wanted to meet like a sane version of Kerry, Matheson, you know, and I think you may be it, but we'll get to that.
1:48.0	We'll get to that, sure.
1:50.0	Let's start from the start. You're born in New Jersey.
1:53.0	That's right.
1:54.0	Your dad was a U.S. Postal Inspector. That's right. Yeah.
1:58.0	And your mom, a nurse. Yes.
2:00.0	And you moved down to Virginia. That's right. So with my dad's job, we moved every couple of years. And when I was finishing up middle school, we got transferred to Virginia.
2:11.0	And my dad's chopped that transfer to Virginia. So we moved to Virginia. And that's actually where my family stayed. My dad decided to finish his career there and stay there for the entirety of
2:23.0	his career until he retired. And so Virginia has been home for me for many decades at this point.
2:31.0	Yeah. Yeah. And tell me about your folks.
2:34.0	So my parents are wonderful people. My dad is calm and low blood pressure and unflappable and just a really silent but strong, strong person.
2:50.0	With a good sense of humor that you one rarely sees unless you know him well.
2:54.0	And when I was growing up, he was always... Especially in a postal respect.
	...

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