This past Saturday, in what seems like a last-ditch effort to regain momentum, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) attempted to try and utilize former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (HI) — who quite recently declared her intent to sever ties with the entire Democratic Party — in an effort to draw a line connecting her political opponent to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Spanberger posted a photo of Gabbard standing alongside congressional hopeful Yesli Vega (R-VA) — who is currently running to take the seat from Spanberger — and made the claim that Vega shared the former 2020 presidential candidate’s odd support of both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and of Putin.
“What do Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and Yesli Vega have in common?” Spanberger questioned of them prior to jumping to answer her own question: “Tulsi Gabbard supports them.”
What do Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and Yesli Vega have in common?
Tulsi Gabbard supports them. pic.twitter.com/oBfU0ijtKT
— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerVA07) October 22, 2022
Spanberger only had a quite weak hold on her seat within Virginia’s 7th Congressional District — a spot once held by former Congressmen Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Dave Brat (R-VA). The seat is currently marked as a “toss-up” when referencing the most recent congressional projection map released by RealClearPolitics.
Spanberger has historically been very vocal concerning the fact that her district is mostly moderate, complaining to Democratic leadership that their heavily radical progressive slogans such as “Defund the Police” would only end with members such as her at risk when attempting to maintain their very tenuous majority in November’s midterm elections.
However, her efforts to try and connect Vega to Syria and Russia spawned some extreme backlash, as critics responded but labeled the entire attempt as a bit of a reach.
“What do Spanberger and Nancy Pelosi have in common?” posited Caleb Max, answering, “Everything because Spanberger votes 100% party line. #notamoderate.”
What do Spanberger and Nancy Pelosi have in common?
Everything because Spanberger votes 100% party line. #notamoderate
— Caleb Max (@CalebMaxVA10) October 22, 2022
“Cheap shot. McCarthyism from our new Security State,” tacked on former White House reporter Jim Stinson.
This attack from Spanberg against Gabbard seems to mirror the accusations issued by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who tried to previously label Gabbard a “Russian asset” across multiple instances.
“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” stated Clinton as part of the 2020 primaries. “She’s the favorite of the Russians.”
It should be remembered, however, that Gabbard most likely threw some fuel on the fire regarding the discontent from the 2016 Clinton camp when she gave up her leadership role within the Democratic National Committee to put support behind or Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over Clinton in the primary.