By JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger offered a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s depiction of the nation as being in a “golden age” during his State of the Union, arguing in her Democratic rebuttal that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term.
Her message, that families are still struggling under Trump’s policies, is one Democrats plan to carry nationwide ahead of the midterm elections. Party leaders point to Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November as validation of a disciplined, cost-focused campaign they now hope to replicate across the country.
“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” said Spanberger. “In the most innovative and exceptional nation in the history of the world, Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”
Spanberger asks Americans whether life is better under Trump
Spanberger was flanked by American flags as she delivered the speech from Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum with restored 18th-century buildings, invoking the site’s role at the heart of Virginia’s early opposition to British rule.
“As we celebrate 250 years since America declared our independence from tyranny, I can think of no better place to speak to you,” Spanberger said.
Spanberger said she wanted to “plainly and honestly” speak to people watching at home. She structured her speech around a series of direct questions: “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?”
She contrasted those questions with what she described as the reality under Trump, saying he “has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities, where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans.” She added that Trump seeks to “pit us against one another” while “enriching himself, his family, his friends.”
“This is not what our founders envisioned. Not by a long shot,” said Spanberger. “So I’ll ask again: Is the president working for you? We all know the answer is no.”
Spanberger had a fraction of Trump’s record-breaking time
Spanberger had far less time than the Republican president to make her case, speaking for around 13 minutes. Trump’s address to Congress stretched for just over an hour and 48 minutes, the longest in history, and ran late into the night.
In his speech, Trump described a nation with lower costs than when he took office, declaring, “This is the golden age of America.”
He also goaded the Democratic side of the House chambers throughout the speech for not standing, increasing his insults throughout the speech and calling his opponents “crazy.” But Democrats inside the chamber largely didn’t react, sitting silently. Texas Rep. Al Green was removed from the chamber barely two minutes into the president’s address after holding a protest sign reading “Black People Aren’t Apes!”
Outside the chamber, Democrats who had skipped the speech responded at counterprogramming events, including a “People’s State of the Union” featuring Democratic lawmakers alongside state and local leaders and celebrities.
“We know our state of the union. We know it is under attack,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said at the event.
Democrats look toward November’s midterms
Democrats believe the political environment is shifting in their favor. Spanberger’s win in Virginia was followed by other high-profile Democratic victories, including a special election this month in Texas, where a Democrat flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district that Trump carried by 17 percentage points in 2024.
In California Sen. Alex Padilla’s Spanish-language response to Trump’s address, he described the nation as “living a nightmare that divides and destroys our communities” and urged viewers to “prepare, starting today, for your voice to reverberate this November.”
Padilla, who was forcefully removed from a Homeland Security news conference in Los Angeles last year while questioning immigration raids, referenced the moment in his remarks.
“They may have knocked me down for a moment, but I got right back up,” he said. “As our parents taught us: If you fall seven times, get up eight. I am still here. Standing. Still fighting.”
Spanberger, meanwhile, sought to tie Republicans in Congress closely to Trump as Democrats aim to flip the House and Senate in November. She warned that additional tariffs would raise costs “and Republicans in Congress, they remain unwilling to assert their constitutional authority to stop him.”
“They’re making your life harder. They’re making your life more expensive,” she said.