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Abigail Spanberger is a former federal law enforcement agent and CIA Operations Officer, and a current candidate for the US House of Representatives in Virginia's 7th congressional district.

On June 12, 2018 she secured the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Representative Dave Brat.

Early life and education
Abigail Spanberger was born on August, 1978 in New Jersey. When she was 13, her family relocated to the Short Pump area outside of Richmond, Virginia, and she attended Tucker High School. While in high school, she joined the Spanish language immersion program which sparked her passion for languages. She speaks Spanish, French, German, and some Italian, and was later a page for Senator Chuck Robb. She then graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA, and with an MBA from a dual-degree German-American program between the GISMA business school and Purdue University. She later married Adam Spanberger and had three daughters. In 2013, she and her family moved back to Henrico County.

Post Office
In the early 2000s Spanberger worked as a federal post inspector on money laundering cases, as well as to intercept shipments of illegal drugs into the United States.

CIA Operations Officer
In 2006 Spanberger joined the Central Intelligence Agency as an Operations Officer. She worked overseas on classified matters of national security that included intelligence gathering on terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

Activism
Upon exiting the federal government, Spanberger entered the private sector and was hired by EAB Royall where she worked to help academic institutions diversify their student bodies. She was appointed to serve on the Virginia Governor’s Fair Housing Board, which serves to ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing around the Commonwealth. In 2017, she volunteered to help elect a number of Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates, including Debra Rodman, Schuyler VanValkenburg, and Dawn Adams.

Candidacy
In July of 2017, Spanberger announced her candidacy for Congress in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. She made the final decision to run in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

During the primary she campaigned in all 10 counties in the Central Virginian district, holding over 100 community meet and greets to contrast her accessibility with that of Representative Brat. The Spanberger campaign has claimed that they have recruited over 1000 volunteers as of June, 2018.

On June 12, 2018 she defeated Dan Ward in a primary contest for the Democratic nomination with 73% of the vote, receiving more votes than any other candidate in the Virginia primaries that day. Her campaign has outraised that of Dave Brat for three quarters in a row, with 53.7% of her donations coming from within the 7th District compared to Brat's 34%.

Issues
Spanberger's campaign has said her top issues include safeguarding Social Security and Medicare into the future, fighting to ensure that every person has access to affordable and quality healthcare, strengthening our public education system and providing more opportunities for job training and apprenticeships, promoting economic growth that leads to higher wages and better jobs, protecting women’s healthcare, pursuing infrastructure programs such as broadband internet, and legislating in support of renewable energy efforts.