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In Virginia Battleground, a Face of the New GOP Takes on Spanberger

Posted on Monday, August 1, 2022
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AMAC Exclusive – By Eleanor Vaughn

Virginia
Yesli Vega (R) with Texas Senator, Ted Cruz (R).

Just 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., Republican Yesli Vega and incumbent Democrat Abigail Spanberger are locked in a heated battle for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District seat, in what could be one of the defining races of this year’s midterm elections. The Cook Political Report lists the contest as one of 33 toss-ups in the House for 2022, while some in Virginia Republican circles believe it could be Republicans’ best chance for a pickup in the state. The contest is in many ways a microcosm of broader political shifts in the country as a whole, and could well be a key indicator for how Republicans fare nationwide this fall.

Once a safe Republican seat, the Virginia 7th has in recent years become a top target for both parties. In 2018, Spanberger narrowly defeated two-term incumbent Republican Dave Brat before herself surviving a re-election scare by a mere 8,000 votes against Virginia State Assemblyman Nick Freitas in 2020.

This time around, Republicans believe they have the ideal candidate to unseat Spanberger in Yesli Vega, a Hispanic American mother, military wife, and law enforcement veteran who has made upholding public safety and expanding economic opportunity two pillars of her campaign.

Vega was born in Houston, Texas, to El Salvadoran immigrants fleeing civil war, eventually moving to Virginia as a young girl. There, she saw first-hand the power of the American Dream, growing up and starting a family with her high-school sweetheart, Rene. After a gang-related tragedy left a friend dead and her brother severely wounded, Vega decided to enter law enforcement to help prevent violence and respond to others in need, starting her career as a police officer with the city of Alexandria and later serving with police departments in Manassas Park and Prince William County.

Vega’s candidacy reflects a growing trend within the Republican Party of women of color – particularly Hispanic women – running for elected office. Mayra Flores, who flipped a previously safe Democratic seat in southern Texas, is an obvious comparison. Cassy Garcia (TX-28) and Monica De La Cruz (TX-15) are two other notable candidates who many observers think also have the potential to be part of an historic wave of Republican women entering Congress next January.

Like Flores, Garcia, and De La Cruz, Vega has emphasized her Christian faith and love of country in her campaign – two themes that have been noticeably lacking in Democrat campaigns in recent years but which connect with Hispanic voters. Indeed, the rising number of Latino Republican candidates directly coincides with growing support among Hispanic voters for the Republican Party generally. According to a recent New York Times/Siena College survey, Democrats have just a 3-point advantage over Republicans with Hispanic voters on the generic ballot – a striking finding given that Democrats won the Hispanic vote by more than 40 points during the last midterm cycle in 2018.

Vega also shares a number of similarities with another woman of color who fared quite well in the Old Dominion just one year ago – Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears. Both Sears and Vega served their communities – Vega as a police officer and Sears as a U.S. Marine – before shifting into politics to address growing problems facing the ordinary people they knew and worked with.

In the Virginia 7th, as in most areas throughout the country, the most urgent concern facing voters is the economy. Vega has emphasized the rising cost of living and record high inflation – caused by massive Democrat spending – as key examples of the failure of Democrat governance. Vega has also hammered Spanberger and the Democratic Party over the border crisis and crime wave, arguing that Americans need more leaders with law enforcement experience like herself in office to better ensure public safety.

The success of Vega’s campaign will likely depend in large part on her success at dispelling Spanberger’s attempts to brand herself as a “moderate,” a label that is becoming more and more difficult to believe in today’s increasingly radicalized Democratic Party. Though Spanberger has consistently touted her “bipartisan” label during her two terms in Washington and is a member of the “Problem Solver’s Caucus,” she has voted with President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time this Congress – directly tying her to Democrats’ far-left agenda. For Vega, cutting through Spanberger’s facade of moderation will be key during the campaign’s final months.

In a district that voted both for Biden and for Youngkin, 2022 promises to provide an intriguing look at where Virginia and the country are headed: Will Democrats be able to run from their failed policies and cling to power? Or will last year’s trend toward Republicans continue? If conservatives win in November, diverse and exciting candidates like Yesli Vega will probably be a big reason why.

Eleanor Vaughn is a writer living in Virginia.

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PaulE
PaulE
2 years ago

I wish Yesli Vega the best of luck. Her chances would be greatly improved, if the congressional Republicans currently in Congress would just stop “walking across the aisle” to help the Democrats pass one massive spending bill after another, that enact more and more “progressive” policies to undermine this nation. Just a thought.

Michael
Michael
2 years ago

What these times have made me is skeptical. Are elections run with integrity and honesty? Close races are almost ripe for tampering, after all who would consider election fraud if it were only a few votes? There’s really no way to know.
Honest elections and politicians, is there such a thing anymore?

Beverly
Beverly
2 years ago

I have a hard time understanding this world. In 2020’s election more than 50%of people voted for Biden. Now they are scrambling to find someone else? But still surveys show a lot still think dims will keep senate. If dims still keep power SAD SAD they deserve what ever comes

jocko
jocko
2 years ago

DON’T WORRY, THE CANCEROUS, ANTI-AMERICAN, LYING, CHEATING libs WILL CHEAT ON THIS ELECTION, TOO

Jeff Noncent
Jeff Noncent
2 years ago

The right Republicans need to win this election everywhere

Patriot Will
Patriot Will
2 years ago

If Spanberger is a moderate, then I have a bridge to sell that’s located in Brooklyn. Spanberger is a typical left-wing Democrat who wants the state and feds to control everything. She talks a good game, but her voting record displays a serious lack of respect for individual rights.

Rik
Rik
2 years ago

Maybe it’s time for a new political party that puts America First! . . . With a platform of term limits (2) and Patriotism first and foremost!

Philip Hammersley
Philip Hammersley
2 years ago

Four of the five richest counties in the US are in northern Virginia. Why? Because the useless bureaucrats who make a fortune saddling us with regulations and taxes live there! They won’t vote Republican because they might lose their cushy jobs!

Legally Present
Legally Present
2 years ago

LOL, the “Problem Solvers Caucus”, my Rep. was in that also, always voting with the Democrats, but when the shoe was on the other foot, the Dems. didn’t cross the aisle and vote with the Republicans. So the only problems I guess were with the Republicans.

steve
steve
2 years ago

‘Red wave incoming’: GOP tipped to win big in November as countdown to midterms begins – VIDEO
commoncts.blogspot.com/2022/08/red-wave-incoming-gop-tipped-to-win-big.html

Herman Hunt
Herman Hunt
2 years ago

I hope every Democrat gets beat very badly

Bernardo
Bernardo
2 years ago

I wish Yesli Vega the best of success in the upcoming election. Keeping her focus on the economy, the boarder and education should be a winning formula.

Lloyd
Lloyd
2 years ago

Ad with so many other Americans, I find it refreshing to have people running for office that actually care about others instead of themselves. That care about the moral principles of life instead of power and radical ideologies.

370H55V
370H55V
2 years ago

In Virginia they’re called “delegates”, not “assemblyman”.

Henry D
Henry D
2 years ago

I believe ALL republicans should advertise their campaign as the current administrations plan for America is no longer represented by the three-B’s but by FOUR B’s: “Bankruptcy Built By Biden” !!! If we the PEOPLE do not get our representatives with some common sense and at least an inkling of Economics then we have little hope of continuing as a nation, prime for takeover by Socialist, China, or conglomerately by our debt holders. Let’s hope Yesli does not fall into the POWER trap of congressional inmates if elected

fredwriter1961
fredwriter1961
2 years ago

The Democrats are a sick and vile party that caters to criminals, union goons, transgender people, people opposed to voter ID, gun ownership, religious freedom, fracking, supporting the police, school choice and more. Their voter base consists of ignorant blacks, anti-American Jews like George Soros and much of Hollywood and the academy which are heavily influenced by the presence of Jews as well as lesbians, gays, and people who cannot define what a woman is. They ask culturally retrograde and a mix of the morally bankrupt and mentally ill.

Terry White
Terry White
2 years ago

Yea! Go Vesli. We need all of the Republican seats we can get!

Tom
Tom
2 years ago

While the Biden crowd scream about coal is terrible for the environment the fact is the F M C corp makes a n industrial chimney air scrubber that removes soot and ask making the exhaust very clean Notice not a word about ways to improve complaints about any energy source just replace everything . Weak,Hungary unarmed people don’t rise up much making control easier. May God bless America again and give us Trump.

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