Comment The ad sounded like a Republican attack straight from 2020: “Vote against our police and sheriffs,” says a narrator. But the digital ad – launched this week – is actually by Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger, accusing her Republican opponent in the 7th Congressional District race, Prince William County Board Supervisor Yesli Vega, of underfunding the police by voting against county budgets. “Yesli Vega won’t keep us safe,” reads the ad’s endnote. The only problem: Vega is a former cop herself — and still in uniform as an assistant deputy with the Prince William County Sheriff’s Office. “I find it funny, to be honest with you,” Vega said of the ad in an interview, saying she voted against the budgets allocated to her. opposition to tax increases. The ad offers a preview of how policing is likely to play a key role in a highly competitive matchup between two women with law enforcement backgrounds. And it comes as Spanberger is championing a push in Congress with Rep. Tom Rice (R.C.) to increase a Justice Department grant to local police departments to hire and train more officers through an existing program. part of a broader package of police funding bills to be introduced in Congress. It’s the kind of effort Spanberger could almost single-handedly point to to fight a “police defunding” attack by Republicans, even though the bills have drawn some criticism from the more liberal wing of her party and from policy groups rights. they want to see more focus on police accountability. Spanberger was a vocal critic of “defund the police” rhetoric in the 2020 cycle during a tense intra-party debate after a barrage of attacks from Republicans, particularly in districts like hers. But she said her bill is not a response to that rhetoric and is primarily about the needs of police departments in her district — needs she argued Vega, even if in uniform, voted against locally. “There is a verifiable place where we are in positions elected office have the possibility to support the police,” he said. “Every time I have the opportunity to vote to increase support for federal law enforcement or local law enforcement through federal dollars, I have done so.” The two candidates took different paths in law enforcement to end up on the same campaign trail. Spanberger, the daughter of a federal law enforcement officer, followed a similar path to her father, working as an investigator with the US Postal Service The Inspection Service before he became a CIA officer focused on counterterrorism. Those experiences have informed much of her work in Congress, from providing a law enforcement lens to explain why she supports certain gun control measures to speaking out about the threats of domestic terrorism. In Va. swing districts, Democrats stand firm on gun restrictions Vega has often told the story of what inspired her to become a police officer: The MS-13 gang shot her brother and killed his boyfriend when they were teenagers. Vega, the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador, joined the Alexandria Police Department in 2011, became a hostage negotiator with the Manassas Park department and eventually ended up with the Prince William Sheriff’s Office. She appears in uniform at the end of every campaign message to supporters — putting her background as a police officer at the center of her campaign with pledges to fight crime and human trafficking and illegal immigration at the southern border. “These are the issues I’ve had to deal with,” Vega said, “and so I’m passionate about public safety. I’m passionate about law and order and that’s really where my heart is when it comes to being a police officer.” The day after Spanberger’s ad was rejected, Vega hosted a law enforcement roundtable that she said focused on police shortages — which she blamed in part on “anti-police” rhetoric among Democrats — and how in her view the drug and human trafficking across the border can still affect the 7th District. The next day, he revealed endorsements from nine sheriffs, representing the majority of sheriffs in the district. One, King George County Sheriff Chris Giles, said Vega’s background as a local law enforcement officer was the biggest draw for him — but more specifically, he said, she had firsthand experience understanding how the lack of mental health resources in a community affects law enforcement. “That was one of the biggest things that really helped me realize that he understands the mental health issue because he works in law enforcement,” she said, “and he wants to help in the best way possible — at least that’s what he’s telling me — at the federal level.” Vega became county board supervisor in 2020. She said she has never voted for one of the county budgets since taking office because she opposed the tax increases included in them, particularly during the pandemic and in a period of high costs and rising inflation. He also pushed this year to hire more police officers, an effort that ultimately fell short on the Democratic-majority board except for some additional civilian positions. Yesli Vega: a new provocateur in Prince William County Asked what she thought of Spanberger’s bill in Congress that would provide federal grants to hire more officers, Vega said, “This is the Abby of the campaign season who is willing to do and say whatever she wants to say, because for this is a matter of self-preservation. For me it’s literally putting my life on the line to defend the community I love.” He blamed Spanberger’s vote for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which included a provision to make it easier to sue law enforcement. But Spanberger said Vega’s comments in recent weeks called her support for law enforcement into question. He pointed to recent comments in Vega’s campaign messages calling the FBI “corrupt” over the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, as well as Vega’s past sympathy for the Jan. 6 rioters, saying they have unjustly prosecuted. “I carried a gun every day for a few years. I’ve written my share of search warrant, arrest warrant affidavits. I also have a set of experiences. That’s why I find [Vega’s] The position about commitment to law enforcement is so frankly offensive,” Spanberger said. Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington, said that while Republicans have held fast to “law and order” messages in recent decades, Jan. 6 may have changed that. Now, he said, Democrats have an opening to undermine their Republican opponents’ stated commitment to law and order and flip the script on them — exactly what Spanberger sought to do. “One of the realities of politics is that the best defense is a good offense,” he said. “Two years ago, many Republicans tried to attack Democrats for the comments of the minority talking about defunding the police. Now, many Democrats are likely to attack Republicans for not supporting the police enough, especially after Jan. 6.” More recently, some congressional Republicans have made it easier for Democrats by literally calling for defunding the FBI that follows search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. Vega, like many Republicans, immediately sought to discredit the court-authorized investigation, saying in fundraising emails that the FBI was part of the “deep state” and that the investigation was “without merit.” The FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents, and as the Washington Post reported, agents were looking for some documents related to nuclear weapons. Vega said she would not support defunding the FBI but would support auditing the agency if elected, calling the investigation politically motivated. “Any person who would call FBI agents and law enforcement officers corrupt and deep state, that’s disparaging,” Spanberger said. Farnsworth said Spanberger’s efforts to turn things around on Vega by focusing on those comments could energize the party’s more liberal base that might otherwise not be too excited about her push to increase police funding in Congress . Spanberger and Rice’s bill was part of a public safety and police funding package — including Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s (DN.J.) Invest to Protect Act — that was delayed in late July. The Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus wanted to see more police accountability provisions added to the bills if they were to include more funding for the police. Many criminal justice and civil rights groups echoed these concerns, including the ACLU. “There is no need to repeat the mistakes of the past and spend more public dollars without public accountability for the results,” Udi Ofer, director of the ACLU’s justice division, said in an email to The Post. A vote on the legislative package has been delayed so negotiations to include more safeguards for the funding can continue, and it is unclear when the package might come up again. Spanberger said the talks were constructive and that she didn’t view police accountability and funding as “mutually exclusive,” seeing value in doing both or using funding as a tool to allow departments to have more resources for training deescalation or body cameras. The legislation was popular with several law enforcement leaders in her district, including Culpeper Police Chief Chris Jenkins, who invited Spanberger for a ride earlier this year. Jenkins said smaller police departments in the area could use the grant money to hire quality, community-oriented officers and improve training, ingredients he said were necessary to build trust with residents. The chief said he had nothing against Vega, but based on the work Spanberger had done in Congress — including a bill she led to increase funding for mental…
