This question came up for me last week and there was heated reproach and argument and slander directed regarding the topic. I live in Virginia as some of you know and there was the Virginia Governor's race. I have been deeply concerned about the presentation of autism by the current Trump Administration and I desired to have a counter-party representation at some level of government in Virginia. I ended up voting a split-ticket where I voted for candidates belonging to both parties. At the top of that ticket was my vote for Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger. I have strong approval for the outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin and I definitely did not see my vote being cast as a rejection of the Republican Party overall nor did I see my vote as a rejection of conservative ideology. Our now outgoing Delegate whom I voted to support the re-election of is strongly pro-life.
Nevertheless, my vote for Abigail Spanberger drew great ire from many people on social media who are very well of my pro-life stances and also are very well of my Catholicity. Some of them claimed that Spanberger's policy platform was abortion up to the point of birth. I honestly do not think that this is going to be pushed for in Virginia after what happened with Gov. Ralph Northam back in 2019, but I could be wrong as politicians are sinners. That said, Spanberger's public statements have indicated support for limitations on third trimester abortions and supports parental consent laws currently present in the state for minors seeking abortion. I certainly don't think her position is perfect, but I don't see anything in her platform that suggested anything of the sort of a pro-abortion up to the point of birth position.
One conservative man I follow even cracked a joke about Youngkin's current preparation for transition and stated that Spanberger hasn't even become governor yet and is already forcing people to transition. This is a reflection regarding her LGBTQ policies and how conservatives have presented Spanberger as being "ultra-left" on that position too. Where she stands on gender transitions for minors is no where indicated on her platform, though she has stated that she affirms handling issues on transgender involvement in sports and in bathrooms should be settled on individual bases. There is nothing in her platform that would universally put local communities at risk of harm from predators pretending to be women. To paint her as an extremist one way or the other is simply slander.
Is it possible she is disingenuous? Like all politicians, I think that many try and court two views, but Spanberger's platform is of a centrist-Democrat and not a hardliner on either point. But the more important question should be addressed as to whether it is pro-life hypocrisy to have voted for her to begin with. I have several points to address on this issue.
Catholics on social media often like to portray a vote for a candidate as being tantamount to supporting the whole of that candidate's positions and much in online Catholic sources support this as well. Shamefully, many Catholic priests seem hell-bent on holding people accountable not to vote for particular candidates one way or the other. I received spiritual guidance from three different priests on the issue and all spoke similar. The first priest told me that given two bad options, it is preferable to go with the lesser evil. Often times, the lesser evil is a subjective position. Winsome Earle-Sears, Spanberger's opponent, unfortunately pivoted on the issue of abortion making her, at best, a lesser evil...and in the greater context of Christian polity where multiple issues ought to be pursued, made voting for her against Spanberger to be less ideal. My godfather also pointed out that while for him, abortion is a decisive factor in who he votes for, there are circumstances where others may choose to take into account other issues. The Archimandrite also affirmed that there are a variety of other issues involved in Christian polity besides abortion and sometimes one just has to hold their nose and vote.
While it could be held that "not voting" is the "moral high ground", I've been spiritually advised in the past never to waste a vote by not voting. If it wasn't for that advice, from a man who grew up under the aftermath of Nazi Germany, I would hold that philosophy too. But I don't. And these are all sincere men who are strongly pro-life, actively engaged in the March for Life yearly, and one who refused to acknowledge Joe Biden's Catholicity over the abortion issue. These are not heterodox men but men who have a deeply orthodox track record whom I would put my trust in before a heartbeat.
Voting for a person, regardless of where they stand on issues, no matter how ungodly, is much different than voting for a policy since voting for a person requires that one put their trust in a human being who by nature is subjected to the effects of original sin. This is why voting for a person should not be seen as being tantamount to supporting the policies of that person. Voting for a person requires more investigation often and can end up leading to a much less informed electorate than voting for a policy. We elect representatives to govern us and under the principles of democracy, those elected officials are supposed to represent our best interests. While they can only represent the interests of a collective whole which is already varied to begin with, their duty is to represent the best interests of the public as possible.
I wanted a situation of balance where the dignity of autistic people are protected. This is also a very significant part of Christian polity. No human being is a demon, regardless of what sorts of evil they may find the winds taking them to favor. Human beings are all looking for God in the end and some do it while using very sinister means. That doesn't make them sinister in themselves. Politicians are exactly like this. There isn't a single politician who is unlike this. Democracy allows people to give input and feedback to their government via the voting process. It's not a perfect system nor is it a perfect or always accurate reflection of the values of the populace, but it is the system that we have been given to work under. Voting for one particular representative over another does not tie you to the wicked policies of that person unless your intent was to support whatever policies that would lead to these sinister positions. It does not make someone a hypocrite who supports these policies nor is it a mortal sin. Politicians are imperfect and both sides often support wicked things. As Christians, we have the duty to pray for all elected officials. So let us remember to pray for the Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger and for all our civil magistrates, let us pray to the Lord!