Abigail Spanberger gave the counter-speech to Trump’s speech this year.Image: keystone
The Democratic governor of the US state of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, focused on the rising cost of living in her response to US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
02/25/2026, 08:0202/25/2026, 08:02
Families are suffering from high prices for housing, energy, child care and health care, she said in a speech in Williamsburg. Trump’s tariff policy is driving up costs for households – the president is not working to make life more affordable, but rather making it more expensive. In his State of the Union speech, Trump had previously claimed, among other things, that the economic situation for the population had massively improved. In general, Trump’s portrayal seems wonderful in the USA.
Spanberger vehemently contradicted this in her counter-speech. On average, Trump’s customs policy caused additional costs of more than $1,700 (a good 1,300 francs) per family, said Spanberger. She also criticized the “One Big Beautiful Bill” legislative package that the US government passed in July 2025. For example, it is intended to extend cuts to the state-funded health program for low-income people. Spanberger said it puts rural clinics at risk and deprives millions of Americans of health care services.
“Broken immigration system”
On immigration and security policy, she accused the president of working with fear instead of offering solutions:
“Our broken immigration system must be reformed – it cannot be used as a justification for uncontrolled officials to terrorize our communities.”
The deployment of federal officials in US cities did not make the country safer, but rather only divided it.
The former CIA officer also accused the president of weakening the US in foreign policy, abandoning its economic and technological strengths and undermining the country through corruption and personal enrichment.
At the same time, Spanberger called on citizens to get politically involved. In several states, voters have already taken a stand against the “chaos” in recent votes. She pointed to Democratic victories in the gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. America has always made progress when citizens “demand more from their government.”
The President’s annual address is traditionally followed by the opposition’s response. The 46-year-old Spanberger clearly won the gubernatorial election in Virginia last November against the Republican candidate. The Democrats therefore see it as a barometer of what could be crucial for voters in the midterm elections for the US Congress in November.
Meanwhile, in Congress, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla responded to Trump. He brought out different guns than Spanberger and called Trump a liar after his State of the Union speech and compared him to a dictator. In Spanish, the senator from California said Trump was using tactics “like we know from other countries ruled by corrupt dictators.”
Alex Padilla sharply criticized Trump.Image: keystone
Padilla attacked the Republican primarily because of his controversial migration policy. Armed and masked federal agents would “terrorize communities and target people because of the color of their skin or because they speak Spanish – including legal immigrants and citizens,” he said, referring to the controversial operations by the immigration agency ICE. “This chaos is the product of the dangerous whims of one person: Donald Trump.”
He also accused Trump of wanting to manipulate the upcoming midterm elections. In November, the so-called “midterms” will decide the House of Representatives and about a third of the seats in the Senate.
Trump is currently trying to pass a new election law, which the Democrats strictly reject. The conduct of elections has so far been regulated primarily by the federal states. The US President also promoted the draft law in the annual keynote speech to the two chambers of the US Parliament (“State of the Union”).
(sda/dpa/con)