![[aggregator] downloaded image for imported item #44843](https://newsview.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/spanberger-and-a-crowd-1024x576.jpg "Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay")
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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov.Abigail Spanberger’s desk.
The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.
Virginia’s legislatureitself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.
Virginia Gov.Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Proponents of raising the current 1988-establishedsalary of $18,000 for senatorsand $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today.Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.
Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.
Republicans were quickto criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original.
“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nomineeWinsome Searsran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.
Sen.Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham,told WVTFit is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.
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“It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of theGeneral Assembly,” he said.
Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’sState of the Union response.
In her speech, she claimed PresidentDonald Trumpis the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”
“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere:costs are too high.In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.
“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”
“Democrats across the countryare laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.
The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.
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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according toWashington’s ABC affiliate.
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