Spanberger on criticism of her 31 vetoes: ‘Does that mean that I’m supposed to just accept and sign any bill?’
When Gov. Abigail Spanberger sent back amendments on some bills to the General Assembly, Democratic legislators balked. Considering the governor’s extensive amendments to be wholesale rewrites of the legislation, the General Assembly simply didn’t vote on her proposed changes and sent the original bills back to her — take it or leave it.
When Spanberger started to veto some of those bills, starting with collective bargaining, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said the legislature felt “blindsided” with gubernatorial amendments. “The governor proposed an entirely new bill,” he said. “That’s not really how the legislative process works.”
When Spanberger later vetoed the cannabis legislation bill, part of a “Tuesday Afternoon Massacre” of vetoes, a Republican legislator texted me to say: “I don’t know what to make of this governor.”
Later, as some progressive groups held protests against Spanberger’s vetoes, one liberal activist in Roanoke posted on social media: “Am I reading the news right: the new Democrat in Virginia is pro-ICE, pro-cop, anti-weed, and anti-union?”
https://cardinalnews.org/2026/05/27/spanberger-on-criticism-of-her-31-vetoes-does-that-mean-that-im-supposed-to-just-accept-and-sign-any-bill/
