Team, now that the general election is here, I wanted to take a moment to tell you how the daughter of a nurse and law enforcement officer just became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia.

Please give me a few minutes of your time to read this long but deeply personal message from beginning to end.

Hopefully, you will learn something new about me, feel inspired, and follow through with a $25 donation to my campaign.

I'm running to serve our Commonwealth because Virginia is my home, and it deserves a leader who cares more about bettering people's lives than scoring political points.

Growing up in Henrico County, I recognized early on the importance of serving my community and my country. Around our dinner table, I heard my mom's stories from her shifts at the hospital and my dad's from his time in the army or working cases he loved. I went to Henrico County Public Schools, graduated from the University of Virginia, and quickly decided I wanted to follow in my parents' footsteps and dedicate my life to protecting others.

I started as a federal law enforcement officer tracking narcotics traffickers and money laundering operations. Next, I joined the CIA as a case officer. I took my oath and spent day-in and day-out undercover working to keep our country safe from terrorist threats. Then, following the 2016 election, I felt a profound responsibility to help push back against the Trump Administration's efforts to rip healthcare away from millions of people.

I'd never expected to be a candidate for elected office, but in 2018, I went ahead and ran for Congress. It was a district that hadn't elected a Democrat since 1968, but guess what happened?

I won!

And every day as an elected representative, walking the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol, I worked with my staff to prioritize the issues that actually kept families back home up at night. We focused on lowering prescription drug prices, supporting veterans like my dad, defending reproductive rights, rebuilding infrastructure, bringing countless jobs to our Commonwealth, and much, much more.

Through it all, I stayed focused on putting Virginians first.

And it's that same mission which motivates my campaign for Governor. The challenges facing our Commonwealth are too urgent to ignore, from skyrocketing costs to unprecedented attacks on our freedoms. And they're too serious to entrust to my opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, who sings the praises of Donald Trump and wants to drag his destructive agenda across the Potomac and force each of us to accept the consequences.

Let me be crystal clear: I've spent my career standing up for Virginians and working to defend our Constitution — and I won't stand by while President Trump and his allies work to dismantle it.

As we've seen since January, Democratic Governors are the first line of defense against Trump's abuses of power. When I'm elected, I will stand strong against any attempt to restrict reproductive freedoms, limit our right to vote, or deny our LGBTQ+ friends and neighbors the joy that comes with marrying the person they love.

I wouldn't be able to carry out this campaign without my husband Adam and our three girls behind me.

I strive every day to approach this work with humility, and the truth is that we're the odds-on favorite to flip this seat. In a few month's time, we can send a message to Trump's White House at the ballot box. But we're already seeing Republicans spend over a million dollars on ads against us that aim to scare and mislead people into backing my opponent. That's simply not the campaign I intend to run.

It's going to take every person reading this to commit some time, energy — and yes, some money — to wage an honorable campaign, to counter all the attacks, and to succeed in flipping Virginia blue on November 4th.

Now, I know that was a lot, but you deserved to hear about my journey before receiving a candid request for your donation.

So, what do you say? Will you make a contribution of any amount (our average is $30 this month) to become a founding member of my campaign for Governor of Virginia? The contributions we receive to emails and texts fund investments in ads, organizers, and the like, and they're critical to putting our best foot forward in the general election.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support,

Abigail Spanberger