Spanberger, Abigail, 1979-

Abigail Anne Spanberger (née Davis, August 7, 1979) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served as the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district since 2019.

Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, her family relocated to the Short Pump area in Henrico County, outside Richmond, when she was 13. After graduating from John Randolph Tucker High School, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration from a joint program between the GISMA Business School in Germany and Purdue University's Krannert School of Management. In 2002 and 2003, Spanberger taught English literature as a substitute teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia. In the early 2000s, she worked as a federal postal inspector on money laundering cases, as well as intercepting shipments of illegal drugs into the United States. In 2006, Spanberger joined the Central Intelligence Agency as an operations officer. She worked overseas on classified matters of national security that included intelligence gathering on terrorism and nuclear proliferation. In 2014, Spanberger left the CIA and entered the private sector. She was hired by Royall & Company (now EAB). In 2017, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe appointed her to the Virginia Fair Housing Board.

In 2018, Spanberger defeated Republican incumbent Dave Brat in Virginia's 7th congressional district. A moderate Democrat, she has broken with the Democratic Party on a number of issues. She voted to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be notified when undocumented immigrants attempt to purchase firearms, and voted against the House budget in summer 2019 because it failed to acknowledge the growing national debt. Spanberger supports the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She supports a public option for healthcare via the proposed Medicare-X Choice Act. Spanberger objected to Trump's travel bans from certain predominantly Muslim countries and argued that they would aid jihadist propaganda by allowing a portrayal of the United States as an anti-Muslim country. She has voiced her support for stronger border security measures but opposes Trump's proposed wall. Spanberger has called for a new version of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004.