Abigail Spanberger Rated Virginia’s Most Bipartisan Member of Congress

SHERMAN, Conn. — Rep. Abigail Spanberger is the most bipartisan member of Congress from Virginia and one of the five most bipartisan lawmakers in the entire country, according to a new ranking released Tuesday by the nonpartisan and nonprofit Common Ground Committee.

The Common Ground Scorecard shows on a scale of 0 to 100 how much elected officials — including U.S. House members, U.S. senators and governors — seek to find common ground with members of the other political party.

The committee developed its annual scorecard to help voters learn which elected officials and candidates are seeking common ground on important issues to move the country forward.

Its latest assessment finds Spanberger scoring 100 out of 100 points, which the group says puts her in the top one-half of 1% of all elected officials for finding common ground with her colleagues on both sides of the aisle. 

Spanberger’s score is also 72 points higher than the average score of 28.

Only two lawmakers scored higher than Spanberger, and they only did so by scoring a grid-busting 104 points. They were Reps. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and Don Bacon, R-Neb.

That being the case, Spanberger is technically second when it comes to a consideration of bipartisanship on a technical level, though she’s got some company on this tier of the assessment — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., who both scored 100 points.

Rounding out the top 10 in bipartisanship were Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who scored a 99, Reps. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who both garnered 97 points, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., who got 93 points and Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, who took in 92 points.

In a quote provided to the organization, Spanberger said, “Sometimes you are justified in thinking that bipartisanship and progress on legislation, or even just old-fashioned civility, might be impossible. But in fact, it’s happening. … You seek forward and find compromise. That’s how you make progress.”

“American voters want their elected leaders to work together and do the hard work it will take to solve America’s most difficult challenges,” said Bruce Bond, CEO and co-founder of the Common Ground Committee.

“We know that members of Congress can work together to find areas of agreement for the good of the country — regardless of their political beliefs,” Bond said. “We also believe that sticking to your principles and working to find common ground with your political opponents aren’t mutually exclusive concepts — you can do both. Rep. Spanberger understands that you can disagree without anger or rancor over a given issue, and I hope that more members of Congress follow her lead.”

Nonpartisan organizations have consistently ranked Spanberger as the most bipartisan member of Congress from Virginia.

Last year, the nonpartisan Bipartisan Index released by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy ranked Spanberger as the third-most bipartisan U.S. House Democrat and the fifth-most bipartisan member of either party in the U.S. House. Her ranking was the highest of any lawmaker in either the U.S House or U.S. Senate from Virginia.

“Bipartisanship should never be the goal in and of itself — rather, it should be a means for delivering long-lasting progress,” Spanberger said. “That’s why I’m honored to once again be ranked as the most bipartisan lawmaker from Virginia, and I want to thank the Common Ground Committee for their continued work for the good for our communities, our Commonwealth, and our country.”

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