PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — In a wide-ranging interview Monday afternoon, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) detailed her positions on several key topics in her bid to become Virginia’s next governor.

Spanberger is in her third term representing Virginia’s 7th District, which tracks the I-95 corridor north of Richmond. The University of Virginia graduate was previously an operations officer with the CIA and served on the Fair Housing Board under Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Spanberger declared as a candidate for governor last November, nearly two years before the 2025 election. So far, she is the only declared candidate for that office after Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (D) opted to run for lieutenant governor instead.

Spanberger discussed several issues with 10 On Your Side.

Spanberger said a regulated marijuana market can be beneficial to Virginia, but since it remains illegal on the federal level, she also wants to use it to open up more options for the treatment of veterans.

“There is a lot of research related to PTSD and other medicinal value that relates to marijuana that just isn’t available to our nation’s veterans,” she said.

Spanberger also said Virginia schools should not paper over the past, especially when it comes to slavery.

“I think it’s extraordinarily important that our kids learn the full history of the Commonwealth,” she said. “We are an extraordinary part of American history, and understanding what we’ve done well and understanding what hasn’t been our proudest moments understand the reality of slavery, but also the reality of creating a nation.”

Spanberger disagrees with a recent decision by the school board in Shenandoah County to revert back to naming two schools there for Confederate figures, after a previous board voted to change the remove those names four years ago.

“This is not a decision that I support, and I say that as in my position as a federal legislator,” she said. “I’ve been part of the process of renaming military installations that had previously been named after Confederate generals. There are plenty of people who could be celebrated. And so I do think it’s an unfortunate and a move against progress.”

The mother of three said all students should be able to see school as a safe place.

“LGBTQ kids should feel that same sense of safety and security in the classroom and the same level of respect that any child should receive,” Spanberger said.

Spanberger supports the progress of Virginia when it comes to reproductive rights, and doesn’t want to see what she calls “backsliding.” She wants the right to an abortion codified in Virginia’s Constitution.

“I just don’t think that either as a legislator in my current role or as governor in the future role, that I should be dictating a woman’s choice on something so deeply personal,” Spanberger said. “And I say that as a mother of three daughters.”

Spanberger said she’s aware of the unique challenges and expenses for commuters in Hampton Roads, and will have more conversations about the idea of toll relief.

“From a larger economic standpoint, the ability of communities throughout Hampton Roads to do business or recreate, you know, community to community is one that’s impacted by the financial burden that those tolls create,” she said.

Spanberger said President Biden’s decision to halt shipments of 2,000-pound bombs shouldn’t be misinterpreted as the administration withdrawing support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

“[They] don’t have a direct impact on the war that the Israelis are fighting at this moment against Hamas,” Spanberger said.

When asked if she thought the Israeli Defense Forces are being discriminating enough when it comes to civilian casualties in Gaza — now numbering more than 34,000 according to the United Nations — Spanberger said “I recognize and feel the same heartbreak that so many people feel as it relates to the fact that there have been civilian deaths on the ground in Gaza. And this becomes the challenge of any armed conflict, particularly one where it’s a terrorist organization which is amorphous versus a regular army like the IDF working to protect its people.”

Election day for governor of Virginia is not until Nov. 4, 2025.