Youngkin and Spanberger Meet to Discuss Virginia Transition

Passing The Torch: Spanberger, Youngkin Meet For Smooth Transition

Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger outlines early priorities on affordability as Governor Glenn Youngkin pledges full cooperation for a smooth handover

Published November 7, 2025

Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger met with outgoing Governor Glenn Youngkin at the Executive Mansion in Richmond on Thursday to discuss the state’s transition of power, focusing on health care, affordability, and food security.

After sharing lunch with their spouses, Spanberger and Youngkin spoke with reporters about the coming months. “It was a wonderful discussion about the transition process and some of the basic realities of what this is going to be for our family,” Spanberger said. “We’ve got our transition office open up and running.”

Her transition team includes several familiar faces from her time in Congress and experts across Virginia’s higher education and health care sectors. Yohannes Abraham, former director of President Joe Biden’s transition team, and Kelly Cannon, CEO of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association Foundation, will co-chair the team according to Virginia Mercury.

Today I convened our transition team in Richmond. We are wasting no time getting to work to build an Administration that puts Virginians first — and that's exactly what I'll do when I'm sworn into office in January. pic.twitter.com/vFJ47jdGyF
— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerForVA) November 10, 2025

Spanberger said her top priorities as governor will be tackling affordability issues. “Increasing housing supply, lowering costs in housing, in energy, and ultimately in health care,” she said, noting challenges posed by recent federal legislation. (RELATED: Youngkin Launches State-Run SNAP Replacement as Federal Shutdown Freezes Benefits)

Changes to Medicaid and hospital funding under Congress’ reconciliation bill could leave thousands of Virginians without coverage and strain rural hospitals. The ongoing government shutdown—now the longest in U.S. history—has also delayed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for about 850,000 Virginians.

To address the crisis, Youngkin launched a temporary state-level SNAP program using surplus funds. “There are many things that are still in motion that we will talk about, that hopefully will continue,” Youngkin said.

“That’s what this is all about and why this transition period is one of cooperation to make sure that Governor-elect Spanberger’s administration is ready to go on Day One and any way we can help in that we will do.”