Why did Abigail Spanberger come out against repealing Virginia’s right-to-work law?

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger is facing backlash from some members of her own party for her comments on the issue of right-to-work.

The Democratic nominee for governor told 8News last week in an exclusive interview that she wouldn’t support fully repealing Virginia’s current right-to-work law. The law allows anyone to work in Virginia without being forced to pay union dues.

8News Political Analyst Rich Meagher said there are a few reasons why Spanberger decided to take the controversial position when she did. 

“Getting something like this out of the way now, let's have our little spat in the Democratic Party about the right-to-work law and whether we’re going to repeal it, let’s get that done now here in May, so that it becomes less of an issue when we get to the fall,” Meagher told 8News. 

Meagher adds that Spanberger’s decision to break with some members of her own party is a sign of how she plans to run her campaign.

“Maybe she’s figuring that rather than try to shore up her base, what she needs to do is really reach out to disgruntled Republicans and moderates, and that’s where she needs to go, and that’s where she’s kind of always been more comfortable, I think too,” Meagher said. 

He says she’ll likely try to appeal to moderate voters on some issues while not forgetting about the more liberal members of her own party. 

“Spanberger is still gonna run a fairly moderate campaign while still using those key Democratic issues like reproductive rights to say, 'I'm the person even progressives should vote for,'” Meagher added. 

Meagher added that despite some of the division in the party right now, he believes most Democrats will rally around Spanberger in November. 

“I don’t think we are going to forget about this by November exactly, but I do think it doesn’t really shuffle the dynamics in the Democratic party,” Meagher said.