Last November, two CIA Democrats, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, won gubernatorial races in Eastern states, joining the ranks of high-ranking agents on Team Blue (and, in a bipartisan trend, there are many in Republican ranks as well).
Mr. Spanberger and Mr. Sherrill, along with the similarly creepy and bloodthirsty Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, have been mentioned as possible candidates for president in 2028, and they will certainly have the backing of Wall Street and their friends in the digital, military-industrial, and industrial complexes, who have outperformed their opponents by wide margins in past campaigns. Despite the recent success of Democratic Socialists in New York City’s Democratic Congressional primaries, the National Party remains controlled by the big war machine.
Following Spanberger and Sherrill’s victories, Democrats touted their focus on the cost of living crisis during the campaign. They may not have had meaningful solutions, but well, the messaging, which touted “common sense solutions,” “reaching across the aisle,” and “access” to health care, was top-notch.
But as we noted at the time, there was nothing in the history of Spanberger and Sherrill (who reportedly dined together on gold-rimmed wedding china in Washington, D.C.) that showed any interest in improving the economic conditions of American farmers. While in Washington, D.C. (Sheryl was elected to Congress in 2018 to represent New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, and Mr. Spanberger is a three-term House Democrat from Virginia’s 7th Congressional District), they have shown nothing but contempt for the working class, and have never even co-sponsored a token bill to slow the rate of exploitation.
With that in mind, the best that voters in Virginia and New Jersey could hope for was that they might throw some means-tested, worthless policies at farmers as part of building their resumes for 2028. At worst, it’s on display as Sherrill slams state police against ICE protesters, Spanberger spits in the face of the labor movement, and both companies defend AI data centers.
In late May, Sherrill said state police were sent in to “keep the peace” as people gathered to protest the disappearance of people into the black hole at Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center in Newark. What she meant was that protesters would be gathered in “peaceful protest areas.” Predictably, it ended with the military engaging in violence with those unwilling to protest the detention from their own cages.
Rather than holding back, they cooperated with ICE, which had just recently used pepper spray on U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, who himself was trying to play peacemaker.
South of the Mason-Dixon Line, Mr. Spanberger on May 14 vetoed a bill that would have given Virginia public employees more work rights.
The proposal, supported by all of Virginia’s labor organizations, would expand on a 2020 law that allows local government employees to participate in collective bargaining if local governments allow it. Since then, public school teachers, public janitors and firefighters in some counties and cities have done just that, and the proposed bill would have made it possible across the state.
Spanberger initially expressed support for the bill, and after attending an SEIU rally in Richmond in February, tried to water it down and then repeal it completely. Too much, too fast, she said. Her concerns about the pace of change seem to extend only to workers.
What about the next headline in the Augusta Free Press as she throws them under the bus? Governor Spanberger took a courageous stand on behalf of data center developers. From the article:
“Voters,” Spanberger said, taking a softball about data centers from MS NOW’s Jonathan Capehart at Tuesday’s Center for American Progress IDEAS conference and slamming the ball into his kneecap. “They may not necessarily want a data center, but they definitely want an iPhone with data in their pocket. And I don’t mean that in a cheeky or disrespectful way, because it’s actually true.”
“So if you like ordering things online or watching movies or storing your photos in the cloud, you might want to have that conversation that data centers are behind that and are integral to that. Data centers are the engine of Virginia’s economy in many ways.”
What do you think of that “richness”?
Virginia was on the verge of a government shutdown after a fight over billions of dollars in tax breaks for data centers delayed the passage of a budget.
In the state with the highest concentration of such facilities, Mr. Spanberger opposed efforts to eliminate retail sales of data centers and waive a use tax that gave the industry $1.9 billion last year. His office told Politico earlier this year that Virginia “should not withdraw from agreements it has made with companies that bring business investment and significant economic development to the commonwealth.”
We see that Mr. Spanberger has another motive for his opposition. According to MultiState, Virginia has the largest concentration of data centers in the world, with more than 200 facilities in Northern Virginia alone and is also home to the CIA and the Department of Defense.
Meanwhile, Sherrill is proposing data center “guardrails” beloved by Democrats. What are they in this case? From the New Jersey Globe:
The four-pronged plan proposes that data center developers must bring energy into the grid “at their own expense.” Be transparent and report your energy and water usage. Engage with local communities regarding noise and light pollution concerns. and build facilities with union labor and high wages.
Hmm, what could be the problem? Let’s take a look:
Be transparent and report your energy and water usage. Transparency isn’t really an issue. This is the current usage.
engage. Code for “I hear your concerns. Now get lost.”
Unions and higher wages. That’s fine, but data centers don’t provide permanent jobs. This is a short-term project with long-term implications.
Pay your way. This sounds important, but it’s actually something data center companies are already doing or trying to do. From distilled products:
The 48 GW of data centers, representing about 33% of the total planned capacity, are currently planning to skip the grid by building “behind-the-meter” projects. This is a very new trend.
A little more than a year ago, virtually all data center developers planned to use the electrical grid to power 100% of their projects. According to Cleanview’s data center tracker, less than 2 GW of data center capacity was planned under the meter as of December 2024. And in 2025, developers have announced around 40 projects that plan to partially or fully skip the grid.
Some of these projects, such as the Homer City Energy Campus in Pennsylvania, will soon be home to the nation’s largest fossil fuel power plants. It is proposed to be a 4GW+ natural gas power plant that would send all power to an on-site data center. Other projects use a combination of technologies ranging from solar, wind, batteries, and even nuclear power. However, the most common is natural gas. 72% of projects plan to use it.
What other benefits could there be for tech companies that take this path? Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas,’s Data Act of 2026 provides an indication of where this situation may go. From Data Center Dynamics:
If passed, the bill would create a new utility category called “consumer regulated electric utility” (CREU), and companies that build their own power infrastructure would fall under this new designation. To qualify for CREU, a power utility must be completed and disconnected from the main grid and constructed solely to serve new electrical loads…
The exemption allows data center developers to avoid provisions of the Federal Power Act, including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rate regulations, reliability standards, interconnection rules, transmission planning, and merger approvals.
So Cheryl’s guardrail is actually just a decoration along the Broligarchy Highway.
playing cards gift
Trump’s gift (or so they think): Just because Donald has been so bad, they don’t even have to pretend to be “fighting” for the interests of the working class and will win without saying a word.
are they wrong? Consider Labor’s helplessness in the face of Mr. Spanberger’s Virginia veto. Chris Townsend, retired National Electrical Workers Union political action director, commented:
Once Mr. Spanberger made it clear that he intended to veto the bill, the labor movement became nothing more than an insider political campaign. There was no mobilization of union members or support from Democratic politicians, let alone the broader working class. Some letters were published, some anger was expressed, some press conferences were held, but that was it.
Mr. Trump would say, “Sad.”
Perhaps “centrist” weirdos like Spanberger and Sherrill are just doing us a favor by reminding Labor that any effort to move the Democratic Party to the left is a colossal waste of precious time and resources. Mr. Spanberger has even criticized Democrats in the past for suggesting they should do more for the working class and cut all murders overseas. After narrowly winning in 2020, she blamed Democrats like Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib for the party’s losses and argued that a more pro-capitalist platform was the way to go.
Translated, you have to pry the ratchet out of their cold hands.
Where exactly is the “center” in this era?
Mr. Spanberger and Mr. Sherrill are instrumental in repositioning the center in President Trump’s second round, which has already decided on more (bipartisan) genocide, (bipartisan) illegal wars of aggression, (bipartisan) wrecking ball on the federal government and security system, (bipartisan) acceptance of global warming, (bipartisan) expansion of the ICE militia, and (bipartisan) abolition of the police state structure. After “anti-capitalists” as terrorists.
